/ 



The German Element /.fli^^Li 

of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia H^-^"^ 



By 

JOHN WALTER WAYLAND, B. A., Ph. D. 

Assistant and Fellow in History, University of Virginia. 
Member of the Virginia Historical Society, the Southern 
History Association, and the Pennsylvania-German Society 



This Monograph 

has been accepted by the Faculty of the Univcrsit-' of Virginia 
satisfying the requirements in original research for 
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 



Published by the Author 



The Michic Company, Printers 

Charlottesville, Va. 

1907 



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C.i.y'uhl <^ ,Uy 

//Iff,, n ''/'•',' 
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Copyright 1907 
by John W. Wayland 



Preface. 



One who was born in the ShcAiandoah Valley, who has 
dwelt there during the greater portion of his life to the present, 
3nd who is by blood three-fourths German or German-Swiss, 
rnay doubtless be excused for writing about the German Ele- 
ment in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He may also 
he excused, perhaps, for regarding such a subject as naturally 
attractive, and for believing that it is well worthy of careful 
investigation. As a matter of fact, the field has proved most 
f-uitful: so much so that the writer has been surprised at the 
abundance and wealth of material that may be secured for 
historical, economical, sociological, political, religious, linguis- 
t':, and even literary studies. He hastens to say, however, 

r the reassurance of the reader, that he has not attempted 
to follow out all these lines of investigation in the present 
treatise : what he has attempted is merely a plain, unvarnished 
picture of the people m their homes, in their churches, in their 
schools, in their fields and workshops, and in the larger re- 
lations of church and state as affected by peace and war. As 
pteliminary to this picture, a brief account of the exploration 
and settlement of the country has been deemed necessary and 
appropriate. 

[n addition to a natural inclination toward the subject in 
haid, the writer has felt in some measure what he is pleased 
to call a sense of duty. It is a patent fact that the German 
elenent in Virginia — and tliat chiefly means the Germans in 
ro-thwestern Virginia — is a subject that has received but 
-i^ht attention, either in the thought and literature of our 
larrer Virginia,^ or in the thought and concern of the German 
elenent itself. And the fact is not singular. The prevailing 
e'frment of our State is English; our language is English: 



IV PREFACE. 

and not even a German would have it anything else : hence 
our books and our thought are English and of England. So 
the fact is not sing^ilar that the German element of the Valley 
of Virginia and adjacent sections should be overlooked in the 
more familiar life and interests of the larger part. It is only 
analogous to the larger fact in our country as a whole. The 
German fifth or fourth of o.ur American nation is often for- 
gotten — we love old England so well. And yet the student 
at least should not be so forgetful — he loves the German 
schools too well. Hugo Miinsterberg is reported as saying 
that the German and American nations are more alike, in mind 
and temperament, than any other two nations of earth, and 
must eventually adopt the same form of civilization and gov- 
ernment.^ We hesitate to accept this statement in its en- 
tirety, because Miinsterberg is a German, and Germans are 
apt to be enthusiastic ; but we do put a good deal of confidence 
in what Andrew D. White says; for he is one of us. Mr. 
White says: "Although Great Britain is generally honored as 
the mother of the United States, Germany has, from an intel- 
lectual standpoint, become more and more the second mother 
of the United States. More than any other country, Geriilany 
has made the universities and colleges of America what tbey 
are to-day — a powerful force in the development of American 
civilization."^ In view of these facts, therefore, the writer 
feels like saying a word for his own kind and to them. He is 
gratified, moreover, to observe a gradual awakening of con- 
science, so to speak, among them. A few have always k.'pt 
the faith, and have tried to keep the language, though against 
overwhelming odds; but lately — and this is the gratifying fact 
— many of the young men and women of the Valley of \ ir- 
ginia, in whose families the language and literature of the 
Fatherland have been practically dead for two or three genera- 
tions, are now turning back to them in their courses of higher 

iThe Inglenook, Elgin, 111., of recent date. 

2Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1901, vol. I, p. 54'J. 



PREFACE. V 

education, and are taking up for their own accomplishment 
and cuUure what their great-grandfathers and great-grand- 
mothers tried to get rid of as soon as possible, in order to be 
like other people. 

In enumerating the sources from which the facts presented 
in this treatise have been gathered, the writer ventures to men- 
tion first his own life and experience among the people of 
whom he writes, together with a first-hand acquaintance — 
often familiarity — with nearly every locality named. For defi- 
nite facts of time and place, relating to the early settlements, 
the archives of the several counties of the Valley and adjacent 
sections have, been consulted : namely, in the order of their 
organized establishment, Spottsylvania (1721), Orange 
(1734), Frederick (1743), Augusta (1745), Shenandoah 
(1772), Rockingham (1778). In Rockingham County many 
of the earliest records were destroyed, or partly destroyed, by 
fire during the Civil War; but the burnt records have many 
of them been restored to a serviceable form. In Spottsylvania 
County, also, the records suffered considerably, if not from 
hostile soldiery, at least from the "underground" methods 
necessary for their hiding. Although the valley of the Shen- 
andoah was first settled while the district was still a part of 
Spottsylvania County, I have not been able to find any refer- 
ences in the records of this county to persons or places in the 
Valley. There are, however, frequent entries referring to the 
Germans of Germanna; to some that must have lived in the 
territory now constituting jVIadison County; as well as to a 
few that seem to have been locating about Fredericksburg. 
In the counties of Orange, Frederick, Augusta, and Shenan- 
doah the records, at least of deeds and wills, are coinplele, 
almost without exception. Many of the original documents 
in these counties were written and presented in German script; 
and I am told that in Frederick County some of them, like 
so many Gerniau family names, have ouffcrod not a little in the 
translation an I 'ranscription by English ilerks; and I have no 



if 



VI PREFACE, 

doubt that the same is true to a greater or hss degree in the 
other counties also. 

As sources for the eadiest history of the Valley, I have 
found most valuable a series of documents edited and an- 
notated by Mr. Charles E. Kemper of Washington City, and 
published during the past year or two in the I'irginia Maga- 
zine of History and Biography : "The Early Westward Move- 
ment of Virginia, 1722-1734, As Shown by the Proceedings 
of the Colonial Council." These documents, together with the 
series of Moravian Diaries covering some ten years in the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century, translated from the German and 
annotated by Mr. Kemper and Prof. William J. Hinke of 
Philadelphia, and published recently in the same magazine, 
furnish a substantial basis for the historical study of begin- 
nings in the Valley section. Hening's Statutes at Large have 
been found a rich storehouse of facts and figures for the first 
three-quarters of a century of Valley history. These, together 
with Palmer's Calendar of Virginia State Papers, Stanard's 
Virginia Colonial Register, and Kennedy's Journals of the 
House of Burgesses, have been freely consulted. Among the 
many other publications that have been found helpful, two 
must be mentioned here : John Lederer's Journal, translated 
by Sir Willam Talbot and printed first in London in 1672; 
and Prof. L D. Rupp's Collection of Thirty Thousand Names 
of German, Swiss, Dutch, and other Immigrants to Philadel- 
phia, from 1727 to 1776. 

All of the publications above mentioned will be found enu- 
merated and briefly described in the appended Bibliography. 
To this jibliography special attention is invited. In it two 
things have been attempted : first, an atonement for the neces- 
sary brevity of this treatise; second, some real help in practi- 
cal form to those who may wish to follow out the present 
subject in any particular lines. It is hoped that the latter ob- 
ject: a* least may be " '•" ' as ill some mer e accomplished. 

Among the indivi(_ in different pai the c ^intry 



PREFACE. Vll 

who have given valuable assistance in the preparation of this 
monograph, I gratefully mention the following: 

Rev. Dr. D. M. Gilbert, deceased, Harrisburg, Pa. : Mr. J- 
G. Rosengarten, Philadelphia; Bishop L. J. Heatwole, Dale 
Enterprise, Va. ; ^Irs. Charles G. Johnson, Radford, Va. ; 
Mr. Charles E. Kemper, Washington City; Mr. Elon O. 
Henkel and Mr. Ambrose L. Henkel, New Market, Va. ; ^Ir. 
A. H. Snyder, Harrisonburg, \'a. ; Dr. H. J. Eckenrode, 
Richmond, Va. ; Dr. B. W. Green. University of Virginia; 
Mr. D. S. Lewis, Harrisonburg, Va. ; Hon. J. A. Waddell, v 
Staunton, Va. ; Pres. George H. Denny, Washington and Lee 
University; Dr. W. H. Ruflfner, Lexington, Va. ; Gen. Gilbert 
S. Meem, Seattle, Wash. ; Eld. J. H. Moore, Elgin, 111. ; Col. 
S. R. Millar, Front Royal, Va. ; Maj. R. W. Hunter, Rich- 
mond, Va. ; Hon. A. C. Gordon/ Staunton, Va. ; Miss Sarah 
I\L Spengler. Front Royal, Va. ; Mr. E. Ruebush, Dayton, Va. ; 
Dr. J. L. ^liller, Thomas. W. \"a. ; The A. S. Abell Company, 
Baltimore; Mr. W. G. Stanard, Richmond, Va. ; Mr. W. H. 
Sipe. Bridgewater. Va. ; ]\Ir. T. K. Cartmell, Winchester, Va. ; 
Hon. J. G. Xeff, Mt. Jackson, Va. ; ]\Ir. Samuel Forrer, Tvlossy 
Creek, Va. ; Prof. J. Carson Miller, Moore's Store, Va. ; Gen. 
John E. Roller, Harrisonburg. Va. : Capt. J. H. Grabill, Wood- 
stock, Va. ; Rev. S. L. Bowman, Daphna, Va. ; Dr. Thomas 
Walker Page. University of Virginia; ]Mr. John Van Home, 
Charlottesville, V^a. 

As opportunity is afforded in the succeeding pages, I shall 
gladly makes specific acknowledgment to as many as possible 
of the more than one hundred other persons who have con- 
tributed facts, either personally or in writing. 

It is with special gratitude that I acknowledge in this place 
my indebtedness to my honored friend and teacher, Professor 
Richard Heath Dabney, of the University of Virginia; who, 
at no time dufing the past seven years, has failed to respond 
readily and liberally to my every call upon his scholarship and 
my every claim upon his friendship ; whose mature and even 



VIII PREFACE. 

judgment has repeatedly been an aid and a guide in the diffi- 
cult field of historical research, and whose broad and 
thorough learning has been a constant inspiration. 

If an appendix may be allowed in a preface, it may be worth 
while to state here that in the course of the preparation of 
this monograph a great many particular facts of interest have 
been collected concerning a number of the German families 
of the Valley of Virginia. It was a first intention to include 
these notes in this publication ; but that procedure, owing to 
the considerable bulk of the material in question, has been 
deemed impracticable. If conditions appear to warrant the 
undertaking, these collections may be enlarged and piiblished 
independently at a subsequent period. 

J. W. Wayland. 
University of Virginia, 

February 2J, IQ07. 



Contents. 

Chapter I. 

\j The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia: A Geographical 

Outline, 1 

Chapter II. 
The First White Men in the Valley, 7 

^ Chapter III. 

:/ The Germans of the Shenandoah Valley: Whence They 

Came; Why; and When, 20 

Chapter IV. 
' Early Settlements, 32 

Chapter V. 
Counties and County Records, 57 

Chapter VI. 
Towns and Town Founders, 83 

Chapter VII. 

. /Proportion and Distribution of the German Element in 

the Valley, 93 

Chapter VIII. 
Religious Life and Organization, 104 

Chapter IX. 
Politics and War ■ 134 



X CON Ti: NTS. 

CiiArriCK X. 
IMuoational aiul l.itorary Aotivitios 153 

CuArVKK XI. 
, \\\\\\\ aiul Slavery 177 

CiiArricu Xll. 
TTiMiie T.ifo aiul Tiulustrial Habits 188 

CuArVKK XIII. 
Sonio Karly Tiulustrial luitoquisos 202 

ArrKNDix, 

A. — List ot Letters in the Harrisonburg rostotVice. Sep- 
tember .H\ ISO^"* J15 

B. — List of Letters in the Woodstock PostotViee, January 
L 1S21 "... 216 

C. — ^Testators of Augusta County, 1778 to 1786. . . . 217 

1\ — Testators of Fredcriek County, 1770 to 1783. . .218 

E. — Persons Selling Land in Uockinghani County, 1777 
. to 1793 11^ 

F. — Testators of Shenandoah County, 1772 to 1784. . Ill 

G. — Members of House of Burgesses from X'alley Coun- 
ties. 1742 to 1776, . . . ^ 223 

H. — Members of the \'irginia Senate from N'alley Coun- 
ties. 1883 to PW 224 

I. — Members of \'irginia ILnise oi Polegaies from \'al- • 
ley Counties, 1883 to PXX" 226 

J. — Some German Members of Congress from \\\lley 
Counties 228 

K. — Some German Members of the \'irginia Legisla- 
ture \ . 229 

L. — Revolutionary Pensioners of Frederick County, . 231 

M. — Revolutionarv Pensioners of Pace Countv. . . . 233 



CONTENTS. XI 

N. — Revolutionary Pensioners of Rockingham County, . 234 
O. — Revolutionary Pensioners of Shenandoah County, . 235 
P. — Bibliography : 

Archives, 237 

Books and Pamphlets, 238 

Articles in Magazines and Newspapers, . , . 262 



CHAPTER I. 

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia: 
A GEOGRAniiCAL Outline. 

The great Valley of Virginia lies near the present north- 
western border of the State, between the Blue Ridge and the 
first ranges of the Alleghanies. Its total length, measured 
irom the Potomac River at Harpers Ferry southwest to the 
line of Tennessee, is upwards of 300 miles; its average width 
is twenty-five or thirty miles. About midway, that is, near 
the line between the counties of Rockbridge and Botetourt, 
the Valley is cut across by the James River, flowing east- 
ward; sixty miles further southwest, by the New River, 
flowing westward. Some forty miles northeast from the 
transaction of the James, the headwaters of the Shenandoah 
rise and flow northeastward 140 miles into the Potomac, 
parallel with and between the Alleghanies and the Blue Ridge, 
draining the counties of Augusta, Rockingham, Shenandoah, 
Page and Warren, Frederick and Clarke, of Virginia; with 
Berkeley and Jefferson of West Virginia. These nine coun- 
ties named, beginning with Augusta, form the Shenandoah 
Valley of Virginia. 

The Shenaiidoah River joins the Potomac at Harpers 
Ferry. If one should ascend its channel from the mouth, he 
would find that for forty miles or so, to Riverton in Warren 
County, it washes the western base of the Blue Ridge. Then 
its course shifts slightly to the west, and its waters are di- 
vided by an isolated wedge of mountain, fifty miles long, 
known as the Massanutten Range, which, at a distance of 
six or eight miles, parallels the Blue Ridge along the greater 
length of Warren County, the whole length of Page, and 
half way into Rockingham. If one could look down upon 
the Valley from an eyry in a cloud, the oblong expanse below, 
bordered by its tiers of mountains, might suggest an immense 



2 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

hippodrome, or circus; only the Titanic spina — the Massa- 
nutten Mountain — would not be found quite midway between 
the sides, but a little nearer the eastern border. Turning the 
figure into fact, we find it true and real : the Shenandoah 
Valley has been the race course of giants, and the Massa- 
liutten Mountain was more than once the wall of separation 
about which the contests were waged. 

The two great branches of the Shenandoah River go 
sluggishly to their meeting point at Riverton, in many a 
sinuous fold on either side of the Massanutten Mountain. 
The north branch washes the northwestern base of the Mas- 
sanutten throughout the entire length of Shenandoah County, 
after having struggled out with some haste through Brocks 
Gap from its sources in the mountains of western Rocking- 
ham. The main river — the south branch of the Shenandoah, 
or simply the "South River" — washes the Massanutten on 
the southeastern side, from the point in Rockingham at which 
tlie mountain rises up out of the plain with a suddenness 
that is equalled only by the abruptness with which it drops 
off into the plain at Strasburg and Riverton. The South 
River heads mainly in Augusta County, combining the three 
forks known respectively as South River, North River, and 
Middle River. North River and Middle River join on the 
line between Augusta and Rockingham, near the village of 
Mt. Meridian ; together they flow on three miles and then 
join the South River at Port Republic, in Rockingham 
County; and thence the mingled waters continue in their 
course to the line between Rockingham and Page, where 
they come under the afternoon shadows of the Massanutten 
Mountain; to Riverton, where they receive the washings 
from the western side of the Massanutten in the waters of 
the North Branch ; thence, under the morning shadows of 
the Blue Ridge, to the Potomac at Harpers Ferry. ^ 

1. In connection with this account of the Slienandoah Valley and 
River, it may be worth while to tabulate some of the different forms 



A GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 3 

The Potomac River (Cohongoruton) flows across the 
Shenandoah Valley and bounds it on the northeast; and at 
the northeast corner of the Valley the Shenandoah River 
meets the Potomac at right angles. Out in the valley ten 
miles, parallel to the Shenandoah, is Opequon Creek; on 
another parallel line, ten miles further toward the Alleghany 
ranges, is Back Creek. These two creeks also meet the gen- 
eral course of the Potomac at right angles, and drain the 
lower end of the Valley. The Massanutten Mountain is cleft 
throughout the lower half of its length — the part toward 
Strasburg and Riverton; and out of the narrow valley or 
gorge between its long parallel walls, known as Powell's 
Fort, flows Passage Creek, joining the north branch of the 
Shenandoah River about four miles above Riverton. Almost 
opposite the mouth of Passage Creek, Cedar Creek joins the 
north branch of the river from the other side, after having 
marked the dividing line for the greater distance between 
the counties of Frederick and Shenandoah, and for a little 

in which the name "Shenandoah" has been found, namely: Chana- 
dor, Chanetor, Chanithor, Gerando, Gerundo, Scandar, Schanathor, 
Shanando, Shanidore, Shannando, Shanriandoah,' Sharrandoa, Shen- 
andoare, Shenandoah, Slierrendo, Sherundo, Sherundore, Thanadore, 
Tschanator, Zynodoa. One might almost conclude that we have 
here a series of attempts to demonstrate the law of permutations, 
could he only escape the suspicion that it is chiefly a case of bad 
spelling. Doubtless, to make the matter worse, imperfect pronun- 
ciation and defective hearing often contributed. For example, a 
German soldier in the British service during the Revolution — or as 
much of it as he was allowed to participate in — wrote in his diary of 
wading through the river "Scandar or Jonathan" on the way across 
the Valley to Winchester. The same writer puts the Rappahannock 
down as the "Krappa Hannah," and the Potomac as the "Bett 
Thommak." (Popp's Journal, pp. 24, 25.) On the north branch of 
the Shenandoah, in what is now Shenandoah County, a tribe of 
Indians, called the Senedos, are said to have lived in early times. 
It seems probable that they took their name from the river and 
adjacent country, or that the latter were named from this Indian 
tribe; though other derivations for the term "Shenandoah" are 
suggested. 



4 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

way between Shenandoah and Warren. Four more consid- 
erable streams enter the north branch, or "Little Shenan- 
doah," much further up its course: Stony Creek near Edin- 
burg and Mill Creek near Mt. Jackson, both from the west; 
Smiths Creek near Mt. Jackson and Linville Creek at Broad- 
way, both from the east. One of the principal tributaries 
to the South River is the Hawksbill Creek, flowing in from 
the eastern side, near Luray. The Norfolk & Western Rail- 
way follows the general course of the main river throughout 
the Valley; the Baltimore & Ohio Railway and the cele-, 
brated Valley Turnpike follow the line of the Little Shenan- 
doah, and extend beyond it north and south. 

In early times "South Mountain" was the name applied to 
the Blue Ridge in the upper Valley, southeast of the Massa- 
nutten range; and the latter, in consequence, is referred to 
in some of the old deeds as the "North Mountain." Latterly, 
however, "North Mountain" is the name applied to one of 
the great ranges on the northwestern border of the Valley. 
From an early period to the present, the abrupt southwest 
end of the Massanutten range, near Harrisonburg in Rock- 
ingham County, has been called "Peaked Mountain" : va- 
riously corrupted into "Pickett," "Pinquet," etc. The term 
Massanutten, or "Massanutting," etc., has been applied from 
very early times to a small district at the eastern foot of the 
mountain of the same name, and to a small stream that drains 
the section and flows into South River several miles above 
the mouth of the Hawksbill. "Massanutting" seems also to 
have been the name applied occasionally to the whole of the 
larger district between the Massanutten Mountain and the 
Blue Ridge, roughly identical with what is now Page County. 

In geological formation, the greater part of the Shenandoah 
Valley is what is known as Lower Silurian. Most of the 
soil is of the limestone variety, with occasional stretches of 
sand or gravel, and now and then a ledge of slate. One of 
the most notable of the last is found in the lower Vallev, on 



A GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. O 

a line of continuation from the end of the Massanutten range 
to the Potomac River, This tract of slate, drained chiefly by 
the Opeqtion Creek, is six or eight miles wide and over forty 
miles long. It has been suggested by scientists that this 
region of slate was once covered by a mountain, which in 
ages past was razed by some convulsion of nature or abraded 
by less violent but more persistent processes. It is well 
known, of course, that in the opinion of many the whole 
lower Valley was once a great lake, until the pent up waters 
burst through the mount'ain walls at Harper's Ferry and 
escaped, leaving only the rivers to follow and mark the course 
they took. 

It appears to be a well established fact that in early times 
much of the Valley was a prairie. Kercheval says, "This 
region, * * * when the country was first known to the 
white people, was one entire and beautiful prairie, with the 
exception of narrow fringes of timber immediately bordering 
on the water courses."^ According to Bishop Meade, parts 
of the Valley were prairie in early days,^ and other sections 
were covered only by a growth of small saplings. Foote 
records that much of the Valley "was covered with prairies 
abounding in tall grass, and these, with the scattered forests, 
were filled with pea vines" ; and that "much of the beautitul 
timber in the valley has grown since the immigrants chose 
their habitations.""* Confirmation of these statements will 
be found in a less familiar but no less credible quarter 
further on. 

The Valley abounds in beautiful landscapes and wonders 
of nature. The water gap at Harper's Ferry and the gorge 
of Powell's Fort are justly celebrated. The Natural Chim- 
neys of Augusta County and the Narrow Passage of Shenan- 

2. History of the Valley, 3d edition, p. 312. 

3. Old Churches, Etc., Vol. II, p. 279. 

4. Foote's Sketches, p. 15. 



6 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

doah are no less remarkable, if less imposing. There are 
caverns of rare beauty and grandeur in the vicinity of both 
Harrisonburg and New Market; and at Luray and Sheiidun- 
are the Luray Caverns and Weyer's Cave, two natural won- 
ders of almost world-wide renown. The Luray Caverns, in 
a hill between the Hawksbill Creek and the/ South River, 
were discovered first about the year 1793, by a son of Joseph 
Ruffner, the owner of the land ; Weyer's Cave, in a bluff on 
the Mohler farm, on the west bank of the same river, thirty- 
odd miles farther up its course, was found in the year 1804 
by Bernard Weyer. The Rufifners, the Mohlers, and Bernard 
Weyer, it may not be impertinent to remark here, were all 
Germans. 



• CHAPTER II. 

The First White Men in the Valley. 

On a summer's day in the year 1716, Governor Alexander 
Spotswood, with a party of twenty or thirty horsemen, set 
cut -from Williamsburg, the capital of the Virginia colony, 
to ascertain for himself what sort of country lay west and 
north of the great "Blue Mountains." There was good rea- 
son to believe that several Indian tribes of uncertain friend- 
ship might be found there ; and who else or what else nobody 
seemed quite certain, save the ignorant and superstitious, 
who declared that there were monsters and mysteries nu- 
merous and dreadful enough. The Governor may have had 
predominantly in mind objects much more commonplace and 
practical than the simple clearing up of superstitions and 
mysteries. Doubtless the elements of romance and danger 
afforded a considerable stimulus toward a jaunt; but he must 
have been seriously in earnest about something, to undertake 
an expedition of nearly two hundred miles up country, ^ast 
the very frontiers and into the wilderness.^ At any rate he 
came, and a gallant company with him. They crossed the 
Blue Ridge, probably by Swift Run Gap, into what is now the 
county of Rockingham; and one day early in September 
v,'atered their horses in the Shenandoah River — the "Eu- 
phrates," they tailed it. They may have gone across the 
Valley to the first ranges of the Alleghanies; but this point 

1. In a letter to the London Board of Trade, August 14, 1718, 
Governor Spotswood said: "The chief aim of my expedition over 
the great mountains, in 1716, was to satisfye myself whether it was 
practicable to come at the lakes."— Waddell's Annals of Augusta, 
pp. 19, 20.— It was a delusion of the time that the lakes of Canada 
were just a little way beyond the Blue Ridge, and many attempts 
were made to find a "northwest passage" through the mountains to 
them. 



8 THE VALIvKY GERMANS. 

does not seem quite definitely settled. Somewhere, on a couple 
cf prominent peaks of either the Alleghanies or the Blue 
Ridge, they went through a formal ceremony of drinking 
King George's health in nobody knows how many kinds of 
wine;^ and, ,upon their return, endeavored to provide for 
the perpetual commemoration of their achievements in the 
order of the "Knights of the Golden Horseshoe." 

Governor Spotswood is usually regarded as the first white 
man to look upon the great Valley of Virginia; and yet 
Governor Spotswood himself tells of other Europeans who 
saw it six years earlier. W/iting on December 15, 1710, to 
the London Council of Trade, he says that a company of 
adventurers reached the mountains "not above a hundred 
miles from our upper inhabitants, and went up to the top of 
the highest mountain with their horses, tho' they had hitherto 
been thought to be unpassable, and they assured me that ye 
descent on the other side seemed to be as easy as that they had 
passed on this, and that they could have passed over the whole 
ledge (which is not large), if the season of the year had not 
been too far advanced before they set out on that expe- 
dition."3 

These men are supposed to have ascended the Blue Ridge 
somewhere near the James River Gap, and to have looked 
upon the Valley from the vicinity of Balcony Falls ; though 
no description is given of the country seen by them.'* 

2. Fontaine, the historian of the party, says: "We had a good 
dinner, and after it we got the men together and loaded all their 
arms, and we drank the King's health in champagne and fired a 
volley, the Princess's health in Burgundy and fired a volley, and all 
the rest of the royal family in claret and a volley. We drank the 
Governor's health and fired another volley. We had several sorts 
of liquors, viz: Virginia red wine and white wine, Irish usquebaugh, 
brandy, shrub, two sorts of rum, champagne, canary, cherry punch, 
cider, &c." 

3. Spotswood Letters, Vol. I, p. 40. 

4. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, p. 17. 



THE FIRST WHITE MEN. 9 

Half a century earlier still, further to the southwest, other 
white men had penetrated and probably crossed the Valley. 
In 1654, Colonel Abraham Wood, who lived near or at the 
site of the present city of Petersburg, first discovered and 
named New River, going through the Blue Ridge probably 
by the way of "Wood's Gap," near the line between Virginia 
and North Carolina.^' Between 1666 and 1670, Captain 
Henry Batte, with fourteen white men and fourteen Indians, 
started from Appomattox and, crossing the Blue Ridge, fol- 
lowed the New River some distance ; likely going by the same 
route as Colonel Wood." 

But it may fairly be said that these men, particularly Wood 
and Batte, do not properly belong to the explorers of the 
Shenandoah Valley. Even the party that gazed down from 
the heights above Balcony Falls in 1710 did not look upon 
the Valley of the Shenandoah: they too were far to the 
southwest of it. Even yet, therefore, we might reserve the 
pLce of pre-eminence for the gallant Governor, were it not 
for a few stubborn facts and a "Dutchman" or two. 

In the year 1722, Michael Wohlfarth, a German sectarian, 
visited Conrad Beissel, the famous Pennsylvania mystic, at 
the Mijhlbach, while on a journey to North Carolina by way 
of the Valley of Virginia." In 1705, the General Assembly of 
Virginia passed an act encouraging trade with the Indians; 
and, among other things, it was provided that any person 
who should make discovery of "any town or nation of In- 
dians, situated or inhabiting to the westward of or between 
the Appalatian Mountains," should enjoy for the space of 
fourteen years the exclusive right to trade with them.^ On 

5. Hale's Trans-AlIcKliany Pioneers, pp. 20, 21. 

6. Idem, pp. 21, 22; John Esten Cook's History of Virginia, 
p. 234. — In 1671 Batte and others seem to have reached the falls of 
the Great Kanawha. — Lewis' Handbook of West Virginia, pp. 29, 30. 

7. Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, p. 332. 

8. Hening's Statutes, Vol. Ill, pp. 468, 469. 



10 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

October 10, 1704, Dr. John Kelpius, a religious leader re- 
siding near Philadelphia, wrote a letter of twenty-two pages 
in German to Maria Elizabeth Gerber, in Virginia.*^ These 
facts make it not improbable that there were white settlers, 
or at least explorers, traders, or missionaries, in the Shenan- 
doah Valley much earlier than is generally supposed. The 
Act of Assembly in 1705 ought certainly to have urged some 
hardy adventurer across the Blue Ridge long before Spots- 
wood came. And besides, the question arises, where was 
Maria Elizabeth Gerber, the disciple of Kelpius, in 1704? 
Can we locate her in eastern Virginia? Dr. Julius F. Sachse 
thinks that the great valleys west of the Blue Ridge were 
known to the Germans of Pennsylvania and Maryland long 
before they were known to the English. ^^ And it is hard to 
believe that Wohlfarth would have chosen the Shenandoah 
Valley for his line of travel to North Carolina in 1722, if 
there had been no white settlers from one end of the 300-mile 
stretch to the other. And yet we are left uncertain in the 
midst of many possibilities. Maria Elizabeth Gerber may 
have been, and probably was, either permanently or tran- 
siently in eastern Virginia ;^^ the Act of 1705 may have been 
too weak to drive even the knights of trade into the hardships 

9. Sachse's German Pietists, p. 22G. 

10. Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, p. 33.3. 

11. Under date of February 10, 1907, Dr. Sachse writes me as 
follows: — "In reply to your letter of 28 ult., will say there is nothing 
to indicate where Elizabeth Gerber was located — as you will see from 
my foot note, p. 37, in Falckncr's Curieuse Nachricht von Penn- 
sylvania, 1700. There were German settlements in Virginia prior 
to the beginning of the XVIII century, as per MSS. Petrus Schaflfer, 
1699. I have in my collection two old maps, one French, date 1687, 
which gives the location of the German settlement at the head 
waters of the Rappahannock; also an English map of the same 
period (n. d.), which marks the same location 'Teutsche Staat.' On 
this map another location on the head waters of the James is marked 
'Meister Krugs plantasie.' I have no doubt that this map ofifers a 
solution, partial at least, to the location of some Germans in Old 
Virginia." 



THE FIRST WHITE MEN. ' 11 

and clangers and uncertain terrors beyond the great moun- 
tains: and Wohlfarth may have traVers^sd the Valley in 1722 
alone; with a friend or two; or making his .friends as he. 
found them among the savage tribes. 

But there is another person of whom we may speak with 
the greater assurance of more complete knowledge : one who 
likely was, so far as we now know, the first white man to 
cross the Blue Ridge; and the first also, doubtless, to look 
u.pon the fair valley of the Shenandoah. In the year 1669, 
the same in which La Salle came down to the falls of the 
Ohio, and ten years before he set out from Canada to com- 
plete the work of Joliet and Marquette, and find the mouth of 
the Mississippi; twelve years before Penn's "Holy Experi- 
ment" in the forests west of the Delaware; and forty-seven 
years before Spotswood and the Knights of the Golden 
Horseshoe crossed the Blue Ridge, he came to the Valley, 
crossed it, mapped it, and described it, together with other 
sections east, south, and southwest. This man's name was 
John Lederer; and he was a German. 

But little is known of John Lederer^ except that he is said 
to have been once a Franciscan monk;^^ and he was evi- 
dently a man of some learning. He was commissioned b^' 
Governor Sir William Berkeley, to make explorations; and 
under this commission he made, from March, 1669, to Sep- 
tember, 1670, three distinct tours or "marches," on two of 
which he crossed the Valley; on the other he went far into 
the southwest, possibly into the present boundaries of North 
Carolina and Tennessee. Soon after his return from the 
third expedition, he was forced to leave Virginia: because, 
he says, of the jealousy and misrepresentation of those he 
had outdone in the work of exploration ; because, it may be, 
of debt.^^ Probably race prejudice was a factor in the case, 

12. J. G. Rosengarten, in Lippincott's Magazine, April, 1902. • 

13. Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. VIII, p. 
324; Vol. X. p. 112. 



12 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

whatever may have been the conditioiLS in other matters. 
Upon leaving Virginia Lederer went to Maryland, where, 
under the friendship and patronage of Sir William Talbot, 
the governor of the colony, he prepared a map of the districts 
he had explored, and wrote out in Latin an accompanying 
account of his adventures and observations. Talbot translated 
this journal into English and had it published, with the map, 
in London, in 1672, For years the work has been rare and 
but little known; and the small edition recently reprinted 
•for a bookseller of Rochester, New York, will not likely go 
very far toward making it familiar to the general reader. 

Sir William Talbot's preface may .serve to introduce Le- 
derer and his work to us more fully. 

TO THE READER. 
That a stranger should presume (though with Sir William Berkly's 
Commission) to go into those parts of the American Continent 
where Englishmen never had been, and whither some refused to 
accompany him, was, in Virginia look'd on as so great an insolence, 
that our traveller at his return, instead of welcom and applause, 
met nothing but affronts and reproaches; for indeed it was their 
part, that forsook him in the expedition, to procure him discredit 
that was a witness to theirs; therefore no industry was wanting to 
prepare men with a prejudice against him, and this their malice 
improved to such a general animosity, that he was not safe in Vir- 
ginia from the outrage of the people, drawn into a perswasion, that 
the publick levy of that year, went all to the expense of his vagaries. 
Forced by this storm into Maryland, he became known to me, though 
then ill-affected to the man, by the stories that went about of him: 
Nevertheless finding him, contrary to my expectation, a modest in- 
genious person, and a pretty scholar, I thought it common justice to 
give him an occasion of vindicating himself from what I had heard 
of him; which truly he did with so convincing reason and circum- 
stance, as quite abolished those former impressions in me, and 
made me desire this account of his travels, which here you have 
faithfully rendred out of Latine from his own writings and dis- 
course, with an entire map of the territory he traversed, copied from 
his own hand. All these I have compared with Indian relations of 
those parts (though I never met with any Indian that had followed 
a southwest-course so far as this German) and finding them agree, 
I thought the printing of these papers was no injury to the author, 
and might prove a service to the publick. 

WILLIAM TALBOT. 



THE FIRST WHITE MEN. 13 

According- to Lcderer's account, he, with three Indians 
whose names he gives, set out upon the ninth of March, 1669, 
"from an Indian village called Shickehamany," at the "falls 
of Pemaeoncock, alias York-River in Virginia." After cross- 
ing the Pamunkey to the south side, at the confluence of the 
two main branches, — the North Anna and the South Anna, — 
.he followed the south branch to its source. "The thirteenth," 
he says, "I reached the first spring of Pemaeoncock, having 
crossed the river four times that day, by reason of its many 
windings; but the water was so shallow, that it hardly wet 
my horses patterns. * * * The fourteenth of March,, 
from the top of an eminent hill, I first descried that Apala- 
taean mountains, bearing due west to the place I stood upon: 
their distance from me was so great, that I could hardly 
discern whether they were mountains or clouds, until my 
Indian fellow travellers prostrating themselves in adoration, 
howled out after a barbarous manner, Okee paeze i. e. God is 
nigh." 

Lederer was now evidently within the present limits of 
Albemarle County. He must have found the head waters of 
the South Anna (the south branch of the "Pemaeoncock") 
somewhere near the northeast corner of that county; and 
the "eminent hill" was doubtless one of the spurs or peaks of 
the Southwest Mountain, east or northeast of Charlottesville. 
From that point he could easily have seen the Blue Ridge at 
a distance .of twenty or twenty-five miles. The reason he 
did not see it before was evidently due to the fact that he was 
coming up under the eastern side of the Southwest Mountain. / 
"The fifteenth of March," he continues, "not far from this 
hill, passing over the South-branch of Rappahannock-river, 
T was almost swallowed in a quicksand. * * * Thus T 
travelled all the sixteenth; and on the seventeenth of March 
I reached the Apalataei. The air here is very thick and chill ; 
and the waters issuing from the mountain-sides, of a blue 
color, and allumish taste." 



14 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Here is a slight difficulty or discrepancy in geography that 
had better be noticed before we follow our traveler further. 
He either turned rather sharply out of his course to the 
northeast after leaving the "eminent hill," or else he mistook 
the Rivanna or Mechum's River for the south branch of the 
Rappahannock. He did the latter thing, more probably; 
for he is evidently pressing forward all the time toward the 
high mountains, which he speaks of as due west from the 
"eminent hill." Again, at the outset of his narrative he de- 
scribes this expedition as made 'from the head of Pemaeon- 
cock * * * ({n^ west to the top of the Apalataean Moun- 
tains.' This course would not have taken him across any 
branches of the Rappahannock, but would have taken him 
along the general course, and toward the sources, of Me- 
chum's River. Moreover, he could much more readily have 
been mistaken in the identity of a small stream than in the 
points of the compass. 

Having spoken of reaching the mountains on the seven- 
teenth, he continues : 

The eighteenth of March, after I had in vain essayed to ride up, I 
alighted, and left my horse with one of the Indians, whilst with the 
other two I climbed up the rocks, which were so incumbered with 
bushes and brambles, that the ascent proved very difficult: besides 
the first precipice was so steep, that if I lookt down, I was imme- 
diately taken with a swimming in my head; though afterwards the 
way was more easie. The height of this mountain was very extra- 
ordinary: for notwithstanding I set out with the first appearance of 
light, it was late in the evening before I gained the top, from whence 
the next morning I had a beautiful prospect of the Atlantick-Ocean 
washing the Virginia-shore; but to the north and west, my sight was 
suddenly bounded by mountains higher than that I stood upon. 
Here did I wander in snow, for the most part, till the four and 
twentieth day of March, hoping to find some passage through the 
mountains; but the coldness of the air and earth together, seizing 
my hands and feet with numbness, put me to a* ne plus ultra; and 
therefore having found my Indian at the foot of the mountain with 
my horse, I returned back by the same way that I went. 

Here, are more difficulties. It appears uncertain from the 



THE FIRST WHITE MEN. 



15 



narrative whether Lederer crossed the Valley or not. And 
yet, traveling at the rate he seems to have maintained most 
of the time, — some fifteen or twenty miles a day, — he could 
easily have gone from the eastern part of Albemarle to the 
v/estern border of the present Augusta County from the 
fourteenth of March to the seventeenth. What he can mean 
by his reference to the Atlantic Ocean, is a mystery; for it 
would be equally impossible to see it from either the Alle- 
ghanies or the Blue Ridge, His description of the prospect 
to the north and west, of the mountains near at hand higher 
than the one he stood upon, fits exactly the conditions west 
of the Valley, but does not fit the conditions on the eastern 
side. Moreover, persons who are familiar with both localities 
can readily understand how he could have wandered in snow 
from the eighteenth of March to the twenty- fourth on the 
first ranges of the Alleghanies without finding a passage 
through ; but must be considerably at a loss to know why he 
could not, in six days, have gone down into the Valley from 
the top of the Blue Ridge. But the strongest evidence that 
Lederer did cross the Valley upon this first expedition is 
found in his map. There he indicates his route as extending 
westwardly across the Valley, and into the western moun- 
tains at the gap made in the first ranges by the north branch 
of the James River, now known as Goshen Pass, in Rock- 
bridge County; and as terminating on one of the great peaks 
in or near the western border of the present county of Bath. 
It is probable that Lederer's Indiah guides were somewhat fa- 
miliar with the trails through the outlying range of the Appa- 
lachians, — i. e,, the Blue Ridge; that it in consequence was 
passed without difficulty, and hence without special notice or 
remark. 

On his second expedition, extending over the sixty days 
from May 20 to July 18, in the year 1670, Lederer went far 
into the southwest, and apparently did not get into the Valley 
proper. It was upon this tour that he was accompanied at 



16 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

the Start by a Major Harris, "twenty Christian liorse, and 
f've Indians"; but this company turned back on the fifth of 
June, and Lederer had thenceforth only a single companion, 
a Susquehannah Indian. The circumstances at this point may 
be given with most brevity and appropriateness in Lederer's 
own words : 

The third of June we came to the south-branch of James-river, 
which Major Harris observing to run northward, vainly imagined 
to be an arm of the lake of Canada; and was so transported with 
this fancy, that he would have raised a pillar to the discovery, if 
the fear of the Mahock Indian, and want of food had permitted him 
to stay. Here I moved to cross the river and march on; but the 
rest of the company were so weary of the enterprize, that crying 
out, one and all, they had offered violence to me, had I not been 
provided with a private commission from the Governor of Virginia 
to proceed, though the rest of the company should abandon me; 
the sight of which laid their fury. * * * The fifth of June, my 
company and I parted good friends, they back again, and I with 
one Sasquesahanough-Indian, named Jackzetavon, only, in pursuit 
of my first enterprize, changing my course from west to soutliwost 
and by south, to avoid the mountains. Major Harris at parting 
gave me a gun, believing me a lost man, and given up as a prey to 
Indians or savage beasts; which made him the bolder in Virginia to 
report strange things in his own praise and my disparagement, pre- 
suming I would never appear to disprove him. This, I suppose, and 
no other, was the cause that he did with so much industry procure 
me discredit and odium; but I have lost nothing by it, but what I 
never studied to gain, which is popular applause. 

Whatever Lederer's reception may have been upon his 
return from the second tour, he evidently still enjoyed to no 
slight degree the confidence of some men of influence, the 
Governor likely being still among the number; for on the 
twentieth of August he set out upon a third expedition, with 
a Colonel Catlet of Virginia, nine English horse, and five 
Indians on foot. This time he went "from the Falls of 
Rappahannock-River * * ♦ (cl^ig West) to the top of 
the Apalataean Mountains." 

The party set out from the house of Robert Talifer, and 
spent the first night at the falls of the Rappahannock — the 



the: first white men. 



17 



site of Fredericksburg. The next day, having crossed to the 
neighborhood of Fahnouth, the company proceeded up the 
north bank of the river to the fork; there they crossed -the 
north fork to its south side, but continued to follow it toward 
its sources in the Blue Ridge. It will be seen, therefore, that 
this part of the route followed a direction northwest, and 
not "due west." On August 23, three days after the start, 
the stream was found so shallow that it wet only the horses' 
hoofs. By this time the party was near the summit of the 
divide, in the vicinity of Markham, or perhaps of Linden, on 
what is now the northwest border of Fauquier County. "The 
four. and twentieth," says Lederer, "we travelled thorow the 
Savanae amongst vast herds of red and fallow deer which 
stood gazing at us; and a little after, we came to the Pro- 
montories or spurs of the Apalataean-Mountains." 

Here beyond a doubt we find our explorer in the great 
valley, though again he has said nothing in particular of 
crossing the Blue Ridge. 

It is worth while to notice that both on his map and in 
his narrative Lederer calls the Valley the "Savanae" — a tract 
of level or comparatively level land covered with the vegetable 
growths usually found in a damp soil with a warm or tem- 
perate climate; as grass or reeds; but destitute of trees. 
Here is found, then, a confirmation of the statements quoted 
in the preceding chapter, to the effect that in early times the 
greater part of the Shenandoah Valley was a prairie. Le- 
derer's further description is interesting: 

These Savanae are low grounds at the foot of the Apalataeans, 
which all the winter, spring, and part of the summer, lie under snow 
or water, when the snow is dissolved, which falls down from the 
mountains commonly about the beginning of June; and then their 
verdure is wonderful pleasant to the eye, especially of such as liaving 
travelled through the shade of the vast forest, come out of a melan- 
choly darkness of a sudden, into a clear and open skie. To heighten 
the beauty of these parts, the first springs of most of those great 
rivers which run into the Atlantick ocean, or Cheseapeack bay, do 
here break out, and in various branches interlace the flowery meads, 
—2 



18 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

whose luxurious herbage invites numerous herds of red deer to 
feed.i4 

The route by which Lederer and his party crossed the 
Valley upon this expedition was some seventy or eighty miles 
lower down than his crossing place of the preceding year; 
and must have taken them by or near the sites of the present 
towns of Front Royal and Strasburg.^^ He says: 

The six and twentieth of August we came to the mountains, wliere 
finding no horseway up, we alighted, and left our horses with two 
or three Indians below, whilst we went up afoot. The ascent was 
so steep, the cold so intense, and we so tired, that having with much 
ado gained the top of one of the highest, we drank the kings health 
in brandy, gave the mountain his name ['Mons Car Reg' it is marked 
on the map], and agreed to return back again, having no encourage- 
ment from that prospect to proceed to a further discovery; * * * 
we unanimously agreed to return back, seeing no possibility of pass- 
ing through the mountains: and findijig our Indians with our horses 
in the place where we left them, we rode homewards without any 
further discovery. i^' 

•''King Charles' Mountain," marking the western limit of 
this expedition, is probably within the present boundaries of 
Hampshire or Hardy County, West Virginia. 

Thus we take leave of John Lederer, his friends and his 
foes; only remarking upon the coincidence that a German 

14. The main cause for the Valley being so largely prairie is 
doubtless given by Hon. J. A. Waddell, in his Annals of Augusta, 
page 18: — "The face of the country between the Blue Ridge and the 
North Mountain was, of course, diversified by hill and dale [at the 
, beginning of the 18th century], as it is now; but forest trees were 
less numerous than at the present time, the growth of timber being 
prevented by the frequent fires kindled by hunting parties of In- 
dians." 

16. Prof. Virgil A. Lewis is evidently mistaken in saying that 
Lederer and his party crossed the Blue Ridge in the vicinity of 
Harpers Ferry. — See Lewis' History and Government of West Vir- 
ginia, p. 35; and Lewis' Hand Book of West Virginia, p. 29. 

16. The Discoveries of John Lederer, p. 25. — None of the preced- 
ing quotations have been located by number of page, for the reason 
that the book containing the several accounts is altogether a small 
one, and the various statements from it may readily be found. 



THE FIRST WHITE MEN. 19 

should have been the first white man to explore that portion 
of the Valley of Virginia that was to be so largely settled by 
Germans a little more than a half century later. It is not 
impossible that his sojourn in Maryland may have had some 
influence upon subsequent emigration from that quarter and 
the adjacent sections of Pennsylvania; but upon this point 
we find no record. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Germans oe the Shenandoah Valley : 
Whence They Came; Why; and When. 

The great majority of the Germans in the Valley of Vir- 
ginia came across the Potomac above Harper's Ferry, from 
Maryland and Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the chief 
distributing center; and the counties of Lancaster, Lebanon, 
Berks, and York, with those surrounding Philadelphia, sent 
south the greatest numbers. The narrow neck of western 
Maryland was soon traversed; and the Shenandoah Valley 
lay next beyond. In addition to the great body from Penn- 
sylvania, there were a few who came from New Jersey and 
New York; a few from the East Virginia counties of Spott- 
sylvania. Orange, and Madison — chiefly of the Germanna 
families; and also a few, doubtless, from the German settle- 
ments in North Carolina. In and following the period of 
the Revolutionary War, the German element in the Valley 
was considerably increased by Hessian soldiers who came 
over in the English service, and remained in America; aixl 
by others of their friends and countrymen who followed them 
after the establishment of peace. Some of these Hessians 
appear to have been skilled workmen ; and a few, trained 
students. Most of them were a valuable addition to the grow- 
ing country, despite the fact that they were looked upon for 
many years with much contempt and no little bitterness. In 
consequence, they and their descendants often tried to hide 
as soon as possible their origin and identity, under the new 
language, new forms of family names, and half-learned Eng- 
lish manners. At this day, when time has long since erased 
those early prejudices, it is easy for us to see that much of 
the obloquy and scorn heaped upon the Hessians rested upon 
no good reason. It may seriously be doubted whether the 



WHENCE THEY CAME. 



21 



tales of "selling soldiers," etc., are in many cases well 
founded. At any rate, there was abundant reason, aside from 
mercenary inducements, why the Hessians of the last quarter 
of the eighteenth century should fight with and for the Eng- 
lish. The English had for many years been fighting with 
the Hessians in Germany. "For a century and a half Hes- 
sian soldiers fought shoulder to shoulder with the English 
troops, mainly against France."^ What was more natural, 
therefore, than that when Frenchmen fought with Americans 
against Englishmen, Hessians should fight with. Englishmen 
against Americans?^ 

During the latter part of the Revolution and immediately 
following that struggle, a considerable number of Germans 
belonging to the religious body known as Dunkers came 
into the Valley, and established homes. But they, too, were 
from Pennsylvania, almost without exception ; and did not 
differ materially in racial or social qualities from the earlier 
nnmigrants. Barring individuals and small companies from 
time to time, the Dunkers appear to have becm among the 
latest comers. 

It will be observed, therefore, that the German element of 
the Valley of Virginia is chiefly made up of the descendants 
of early immigrants: families who, for the most part, came 
into the country priorto the year 1^00; who bought land- 
and established homes, and handed their growixi^ possessions 
down from father to son. The great influx of Germans to 
the United States during the last century scarcely touched the 
Shenandoah Valley : most of them went into the far North 
and West: so that comparatively few new families have come . 
into the Valley during the last two or three generations. \ 
Among these few, however, there are some notable instances. 

1. Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. XXIII, p. 157. 

2. On the Hessians, see the article above referred to; also, Popp's 
Journal; Rosengarten's German Allies and The German Soldier; 
Palmer's Calendar of State Papers, Vol. I, pp. 'i83, 486, 500, 508, 
.553, 554, 556, 560, 564; etc. 

A- 



V 



23 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

There are at present in the Shenandoah Valley, living tor 
the most part in the larger towns, from 300 to 400 Jews, 
chiefly enterprising and successful tradespeople, generally 
good citizens, rapidly growing in public spirit. Most of 
them are natives of southern Germany, and nearly all of tlum 
have come in since 1850. The oldest among them came direct 
to the Valley, upon their arrival in America i the later comers 
usually stopped awhile in the seaport towns. They have come 
chiefly, it appears, because of the agreeable surroundings arc! 
excellent business opportunities afforded here; but many left 
the Fatherland because of the war in 1870-71 between Ger- 
many and France.^ 

Among the late coming German families have been a num- 
ber of individuals that have already won distinction ; but 
for want of ' space only two of these, F. A. Graichen and 
C!harles B. Rouss, may be mentioned. Mr. Graichen, mayor 
of Winchester from 1886 to 1888, and founder of the well 
known glove factory of that city, was born in Altenburg, 
Germany, in 1827. He came to Baltimore in 1848, and lo- 
cated at Winchester in 1853. Mr. Rouss comes of an Aus- 
trian family, and was born in Frederick County, Maryland ; 
but, coming v/ith his parents early in life to the Valley of 
Virginia, he got his schooling in both books and business at 
'?^inrhester. There, too, he made his first fortune as a trades- 
man ; and there his body rests in a magnificent mausoleum. 

The causes that brought the German people from Penn- 
sylvania to Vir^^inia were no doubt chiefly economic, though 
race prejudice gro—ing out of the close association of hetero- 
geneous nationalities, and real or fancied neglect on the part 
of the Pennsylvania government may have contributed to 
the same effect.^ ]3ut the Pennsylvania Germans, having 

3. For most of the facts herewith presented in reference to the 
immigration of the Jews, their number at the present time, etc., 
I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. B. Ney, of Harrisonburg, Va. 

4. Schuricht's German Element in Virginia, Vol. I, p. 85; Wacl- 
dell's Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia, p. 90. 



WHENCE THEY CAME. 23 

passed the stressful period of their history, wanted land for 
their children : good land, cheap land, much land. William 
Beverley, writing April 30, 1732, to a friend in Williams- 
burg concerning lands on the Shenandoah, says : "Ye north- 
ern men are fond of buying land there, because they can buy 
it, for six or seven pounds pr : hundred acres, cheaper than 
they can take up land in pensilvania and they don't care to go 
as far as Wmsburg."^ Therefore, after the best farms in 
Pennsylvania had been taken, and the narrow breadth of 
Maryland had been occupied, the next and most natural thing 
was to go across the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley. 
There they found a free, open, and fertile new land; and 
there they chose to invest their savings and fix their dwellings. 

When we raise our eyes to the broader horizon, and ask 
the larger question, Why came the Germans to America? — 
which is a fair question, and one that can scarcely be disre- 
garded here — we are confronted with a problem more intri- 
cate and complex, yet not difficult of solution. The great 
German immigration began practically with the beginning 
of the eighteenth century: some came to the Carolinas; some 
to Virginia; some to New York; but most of them came to 
Pennsylvania;^' and the chief causes for their leaving Europe 
were religious persecution, devastating wars, political op- 
pression, and social unrest.'^ 

The German is by nature and training a lover of home and 
of the home land; he is conservative in temperament, and is 
not easily given to new opinions or new paths. It is evi- 
dent, therefore, that a combination of strong influences must 
have been necessary to get the tide of emigration started — to 
overcome his racial inertia, and to drive him into the un- 

5. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. I, p. 218. 

6. Sachse's German Sectarians/Vol. II, p. 332. 

"■ 7. Kuhiis' German and Swiss Settlements, pp. 1-30; 62-82; Schu- 
richt's German Element in Virsjinia, Vol. I, pp. 60-65; 76; Rupp's 
Thirty Thousand Names, pp. I-IS; 420; Stapleton's Memorials of 
the Huguenots, pp. 34, 72, 101, 112, 118; Virginia Magazine, Vol. 
XIII, No. 3, p. 287. 



24: THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

certainties, hardships, and dangers that two centuries ago 
beset a journey across the seas and kirked in the wilderness 
of the New World. But sufficient incentives were not want- 
ing: the Old World drove him out, while the New, with all 
its untried possibilities, yet said "Come" in a language that 
was unmistakable. 

It is doubtless true that the great German exodus of the 
eighteenth century had its preparation from 1618 to 1648, in 
the Thirty Years' War : that devastating scourge of fire, 
blood, and sin, kindled in the name of religion and fed to its 
bitter end with every human ambition and every human pas- 
sion. The embers of this burning were still red when another 
series of wars began, which harried out the century and put 
their destroying blight heavily upon the next : the war re- 
specting the Spanish Netherlands, 1667-1668; ..he war with 
the Protestant Netherlands, 1672-1678; the war of the Pala- 
tinate, 1688-1697; and the war of the Spanish Succession, 
1701-1714. 

One of the districts that suffered most severely in tfiese 
wars was the Lower Palatinate, a country lying near France, 
on both sides of the Rhine, to the northeast of Alsace and 
Lorraine. Conditions there during the War of the Pala- 
tinate are described by a well known historian in the follow- 
ing words : 

Seeking a pretext for beginning hostilities, he [Louis XIV of 
France] laid claim, on the part of his sister-in-law, to properties in 
the Palatinate, and hurried a large army into the country, which 
was quickly overrun. But being unable to hold the conquests he 
had made, Louis ordered that the country be laid waste. Among 
the places reduced to ruins were the historic towns of Heidelberg, 
Spires, and Worms. Even fruit trees, vines, and crops were de- 
stroj'ed. Upwards of a hundred thousand peasants were rendered 
homeless. 8 

This war lasted till 1697. We are not surprised, therefore, 
that a great tide of emigration began almost immediately, 
continuing, as well as it coiild, throughout the next fierce 

8. Myers' Modern Age, p. 211. 



WHENCE THEY CAME. . 25 

r 

conflict, and for many years thereafter; nor are we surprised 
tiiat a larger number of emigrants probably went out from 
the Palatinate during the next century than from any other 
part of Germany. 

But even the Treaty of Utrecht, following the War of tl^e 
Spanish Succession, was not to leave the stricken lands of 
the Rhine and Elbe long in peace. In 1740 began the eight- 
year struggle of the Austrian Succession; and, in 1756, the 
Seven Years' War. Thus we have in outline some of tho 
great disturbing causes that were making many of the people 
of Europe long for new homes — or, indeed, homes of any 
sort. Added to these larger movements were the various 
disturbing forces, political, social, economic, or religious, pe- 
culiar to each locality. For example, at Heidelberg the 
Elector Palatine, Frederick II, became a Lutheran; Frederick 
III, a Calvinist ; Ludovic V restored the Lutheran Church ; his 
son and successor re-established Calvinism ; and next came a 
Catholic prince, to insist upon the spiritual allegiance of his 
subjects to his creed.® No wonder that the Old World and 
its people became "well tired of each other." Scotch Refu- 
gees, Quakers and Dissenters, Huguenots and Hollanders, 
and with them the Germans in thousand after thousand, 
sought homes beyond the western seas.^° 

After the tide of Teutonic emigration had once become 
well started, the influence was often contagious; the Wander- 
lust siezed many, as when their ancestors of old pressed down 
from the north and overran the Roman Empire. Many who 
came to America found things well pleasing to them; and 
the reports they sent back to their friends lost nothing in 
the perspective* of distance, novelty, and strong desire. Daniel 
Falckner, an educated German who had spent some time in 
Pennsylvania, went over to Halle about 1700. His friend, 
the influential August Hermann Francke, propounded to him 

9. Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. X, p. 382. 

10. For an excellent presentation of this whole question, see the 
Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. X, pp. 241-250; 375-391. 



26 THE VALLEY GERMANS. • 

in writing" one hundred and three questions, relating to the 
people and things in Pennsylvania, to which Falckner re- 
sponded at length. The manuscript of the questions and 
answers covers 197 folio pages. This manuscript was pub- 
lished in 1702 at Frankfurt and Leipzig, and doubtless had a 
strong influence in stimulating emigration.'' William Penu 
visited Germany, and large numbers of the people accepted 
his invitation, and settled in his new colony. The Dutch 
ship-owners hired influential Germans, living in America, to 
return to the Fatherland as emigration agents, and by artful 
methods, fair and unfair, to stimulate enthusiasm in the 
movement. 

The hardships of the journey, over land and sea, have 
already been referred to; many died upon the long voyages; 
many arrived sick ; and some who lived and escaped disease 
never saw the New World. Great numbers of Germans 
flocked to London, with an innocent confidence, which recalls 
the Children's Crusade, that a way would speedily be pro- 
vided them for transportation to the English colonies in 
America. In the predicament, the Lord-Lieutenant of Ire- 
land petitioned Queen Anne that some might be sent to the 
Emerald Isle. His request was complied with, at least in 
part; and by February, 1710, we find that no less than 3800 
Germans had been carried to Munster, where they settled, and 
where their descendants have maintained their characteristics 
of probity, honor, and thrift. '- 

We have now before us not only the causes of the German 
immigration to America, but also, in Falckner's book and 
Penn's visit to Germany, at least two of the influences that 
drew them to the colony of Pennsylvania, rather than to any 
other colony. In the early days a considerable number came 
to New York; but most of them soon became dissatisfied. 

11. Publications of the Pennsylvania-German Society, Vol. XIV, 
pp. 39-256. 

12. Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. X, p. 381; Rupp's Thirty Thou- 
sand Names, p. 4; Kuhns' German and Swiss Settlements, pp. 62-82. 



WHENCE THEY CAME. 27 

Many of them seem to have got into trouble, through their 
financial embarrassments or ignorance of the law, in respect^ 
to their, land titles and other interests; and because of this 
they reached the conclusion, often with good reason, that 
the authorities in the colony were unjust to them. The ma- 
jority of them removed to Pennsylvania and, sending word 
back to the Fatherland, warned their friends against New 
York, advising them to come to Pennsylvania.^^ But, most 
of all, perhaps, Pennsylvania was generally looked upon as a 
place of religious liberty, a place of refuge; and so those 
distressed in heart and conscience, as well as those seeking a 
good investment for their money and labor, came to Penn- 
sylvania. 

From 1682 to 1702 comparatively few Germans arrived at 
Philadelphia: the movement was just beginning; but the 
period from 1702 to 1727 was epoch-making: between 40,000 
and 50,000 came to the Quaker colony.^* In the year 1719, 
alone, 6000 landed. i-^' 

In Professor Rupp's valuable collection, "Thirty Thousand 
Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, and French Immigrants," 
we have reproduced the names of many of the Germans that 
landed at Philadelphia from 1727 to 1776, together with 
other facts in many cases concerning the country from which 
they came, the vessels in which they sailed, etc. The original 
lists of signatures were taken by requirement of law ; and, 
although in most cases they contain only the names of the 
men over sixteen years of age, in numerous instances the 
number of each sex, or the total number of both sexes in 
each vessel, is recorded. From the given figures as a basis, 
a fair estimate may be made of the totals in the other cases. 
Proceeding upon this basis, with a care to be conservative in 
all my estimates, I have gone over Rupp's work, and present 

13. Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. X, pp. 387, 388; Rupp's Thirty- 
Thousand Names, p. 452. 

14. Rupp's Thirty Thousand Names, pp. 1, 2. 

15. Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. X, p. 391. 



V 

I, 



28 



THE VAIvLEY GERMANS. 



herewith some of the results obtained, — not only those in 
regard to the number of arrivals each year, but also some in 
regard to the various countries from which the immigrants 
came. 

German Immigrants, Male and Female, 
Philadelphia. 

No. 



Year. 


No. of Arrivals. 


Year. 


1727 


c. 1250 


1750 


1728 


c. 400 


1751 


1729 


c. 310 


1752 


1730 


c. 450 


1753 


1731 


631 


1754 


1732 


c. 2000 


1755 


1733 


c. 1500 


1756 


1734 


c. 400 


1761 


1735 


c. 230 


1762 


1736 


c. 850 


1763 


1737 


c. 1800 


1764 


1738 


3116 


1765 


1739 


1673 


1766 


1740 • 


1131 


1767 


1741 


c. 1000 


1768 


1742 


c. 850 


1769 


1743 


c. 1300 


1770 


1744 


c. 900 


1771 


1745 
1746 




1772 
1773 


c. 350 


1747 


c. 800 


1774 


1748 


c. 1500 


1775 


1749 


c. 7000^^ 





Landing at 


of 


Arrivals 


c. 


4000 


c. 


4000 


c. 


4600 


c. 


4000 


c. 


4500 


c. 


300 




109 


c. 


50" 


c. 


600 




2129 


c. 


800 


c. 


600 




840 . 


c. 


800 


c. 


325 


c. 


500 


c. 


900 


c. 


800 


c. 


1500 


c. 


550 


c 


200 



16. Lecky, following Kalm, says that nearly 12,000 came to Penn- 
sylvania in 1749. — American Revolution, Woodburu's Ed., p. 21. 

17. Rupp makes this note: — "Owing to the hostilities between 
France and England, German immigration was completely suspended 
from 1756 to 1761."— Page 351. 



WHENCE THEY CAME. 29 

A glance over the above table, giving the approximate 
numbers of arrivals in the several years from 1727 to 1776, 
will reveal some rather striking facts in confirmation of the 
statement that the European wars were one of the great 
causes of German emigration. Take, for example, the War 
of the Austrian Succession, 1740 to 1748. During the actual 
progress of the conflict only a few could get away; but 
immediately following its close great numbers crowded the 
ships. On the other hand, war in America repelled immi- 
grants. During the Seven Years' War, there was also war 
in America, and in consequence there was practically no 
immigration from 1756 to 1763. The American Revolution 
also put a decided check upon German immigration, which 
continued to be sluggish until after the fall of Napoleon.^® 

The following figures, prepared from statistics given in 
Professor Seidensticker's Die Brste Deutsche Bimvandcrung 
in Amerika, will afford additional illustration in this con- 
nection. From 1820 to 1831, the average yearly number of 
German immigrants to the United States was slightly over 
845; from 1832 to 183.6, the five years following tlie Euro- 
pean disturbances of 1830, the average yearly number was 
12,777 1-5. From 1845 to 1849, the yearly average was 
56,979 2-5; from 1850 to 1854, the five years following the 
revolution of 1848, the yearly average was 130,850 1-5.^" 
From 1861 to 1865, slightly more than 46,610 Germans came 
to the States yearly; but from 1866 to 1870 the annual num- 
ber was 117,791. 

The following facts, collated with reference to the places 
of nativity of those immigrants who came over from 1727 
to 1776, are of particular interest in the face of our question, 
Whence? For the names of practically all the German f am- 
is. Seidensticker's First Century of German Printinjj^, p. viii. 
19. On the influence of tlie revolutions of 1830 and 1848 upon 
German emigration, see Carl Schurz's article in McClure's Maga- 
zine, December, 1906. 



30 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

ilies of the Shenandoah Valley are to be found in Rupp's 
collection. From 1727 to 1739 each ship-load of arrivals are 
designated "Palatines," almost without exception. During 
the years 1740 and 1741 they are also called "Palatines," 
except that one ship-load, registered on September 23, 1740, 
are labeled "Palatines and Svvitzers." From 1742 to 1748, 
"Foreigners" is the designation employed. In 1749 we find 
a pleasing variety: there are "Foreigners," "Wirtembergers," 
"Wirtembergers from Erbach," "Palatines," "Foreigners 
from Wirtemberg, Alsace, and Zweibrucken" ; and more 
"Foreigners" from various places : Zweibrucken, Nassau, 
Planau, Darmstadt, Eisenberg, Swabia, Mannheim, Durlach, 
Rittenheim, etc. ' From 1750 to 1753 the immigrants are not 
identified as to place of former residence; but they are some- 
times identified with respect to religion, as "Calvinists," 
"Mennonites," "Catholics," etc. In 1754 their places of for- 
mer residence are usually given : Alsace, Lorraine, Franconia, 
the Palatinate, Wirtemberg, Darmstadt, Zweibrucken, Hesse. 
Westphalia, Hanau, Switzerland, Hamburg, Hanover, Sax- 
ony. From 1755 to 1775 they are not identified as to place of 
birth or former residence; a few ship-loads, only, are identified 
with respect to religion; but, as in nearly every case from 
1727, the name of the ship, of the ship-master, and the names 
of the foreign ports from which the ship last sailed, are 
given. From the foregoing particulars, it will be observed 
that the great majority of immigrants of the 18th century 
v/ere from South Germany. 

In closing this chapter, the fact is emphasized that the 
Germans of the Valley of Virginia are descended almost 
entirely from the immigrants of the early eighteenth century : 
people who left the Fatherland, not for economic reasons 
alone, but largely because of religious persecution, political 
oppression, or military outrages. Such forces always move 
the best classes, — people who at such times are seeking most 
of all liberty of conscience, health of the state, and safety 



WHENCE THEY CAME. 31 

for the morals of liome and family.^o ^^^^ q^^^^^^^^ ^^.^^^^^^^ 
of the Valley, like their neighbors the Scotcli-irish,^! were 
such a people. They came when facilities for travel and 
traiisportation were at a minimum, and when the perils of the 
tindertakmg were at a maximum. Let us hope that their 
descendants will never lose the love of liberty and the love 
of virtue that burned in the bosoms of the fathers, and that 
cirove them far forth in the face of danger. 

^ 2a^See Report of U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. I. 
21. Peyton's History of Augusta, p. 79. 



CHAPTER IV. 
Early Settlements. 

Attention has been called to the fact, in Chapter II pre- 
ceding, that it is possible, and even probable, that other white 
men besides John Lederer and his companions were in the 
Shenandoah Valley ahead of Governor Spotswood, who came 
in 1716. However, if this be true, it is not likely that any 
permanent settlements can be placed nearly so early as his 
visit. Those white men who might have been found west of 
the Blue Ridge prior to 1726 or 1727, were all doubtless 
explorers, missionaries, hunters, or Indian traders. About 
the year 1725 John Van Meter, a Dutchman from New York, 
was in the valley of the South Branch of the Potomac, twenty- 
five or thirty miles west of the valley of the Shenandoah. 
He was a trader, and spent much of his time among the 
Delaware Indians, in Pennsylvania; but also journeyed far 
to the south to traffic with the Cherokees and Catawbas. 
I.ater, upon his advice, his two sons, John and Isaac Van 
Meter, came to Virginia and secured large tracts of land, 
not exclusively in the valley of the South Branch, but first in 
the lower valley of the Shenandoah.^ 

It is evident that about the same time that Van Meter the 
elder was traversing the valley of the South Branch, other 
adventurers, from eastern Virginia, were pushing out toward 
the head fountains of the same stream, where the waters turn 
southwestward, toward the James; for the Cowpasture River 
was known and named as early as 1727. In that year Robert 
Lewis, William Lynn, Robert Brooke, Jr., James Mills, Wil- 
liam Lewis, and Beverly Robinson petitioned the Governor 
in Council for 50,000 acres of land "in one or more tracts on 

1. Lewis' History and Government of West Virginia, pp. 40-42; 
Kercheval's History of the Valley, pp. 46, 51. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 33 

tlie head brandies of James River to the West and North- 
v.estward of the Cow Pasture," with a view to procuring 
settlers for the same.^ Whether the petition was granted or 
not does not* appear; but it seems to be an estabHshed fact 
that white people located in the designated region at the time 
of, or soon after, the settlement of the Scotch-Irish about 
the site of Staunton, in 1732.^ Why Lewis, Lynn, Brooke, 
and their friends, in their search for lands, should have passed 
by the fertile tracts in the Valley is a mystery. 

It was in 1730 that the younger Van Meters, John and 
Isaac, obtained their first grants of land. John got 10,000 
acres in the forks of the Shenandoah, including the places 
called Cedar Lick and Stony Lick, together with 20,000 
acres lower down; Isaac got 10,000 acres iii the lower val- 
ley.^ These grants, as most others of the time, were made 
upon the condition that within two years a family should be 
settled on each thousand acres. Ip 1731 the Van Meters sold 
portions of their tracts to Jost Hite, who, in 1732, settled 
in the Valley with his three sons-in-law, George Bowman, 
Jacob Chrisman, Paul Froman, and others. On June 12, 
1734, patents were ordered to be issued to the "Several Mas- 
ters of Families" residing on these lands, as well as on part 
of another tract granted conditionally to Hite, Robert Mac- 
kay, and others."'"' These patents were issued upon proof that 
the required number of families had been brought in ; so 
that we here find evidence that, by the early part of this year 
(1734), some forty families were settled on and near the 
Opequon, east, south, and southwest of the site of Win- 
chester. \ \ 

2. Palmer's Calendar of State Papers, Vol. I, p. 214. 

3. Waddell's Annals of AuRusta, p. 21. 

4. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 2, pp. 115-119. 

5. Idem, No. 4, p. 354. — George Bowman's house, erected on Cedar 
Creek in 1734, is said to be still standing. — English's Life of G. R. 
Clark, Vol. I, p. 116. 

-3 



34 THE VALIvEY GERMANS. 

Jost Hite was a native of Strasburg, in Alsace;^ his sons- 
in-law, Bowman, Chrisman, and Froman, and his friend Peter 
Stephens, as well as most of the others in the Opequon 
settlement, were also Germans; but with these were a num- 
ber of Scotch-Irish, among whom were Robert AIcKay, Wil- 
liam Dufif, and probably Robert Green. ^ It appears, indeed, 
that John Lewis, the Scotch-Irish pioneer of Augusta County, 
came from Pennsylvania to Virginia with Hite and his party 
i-^ 1732; but, passing on up the Valley the same year, began 
his settlement near the site of Staunton.^ 

For many years Jost Hite enjoyed the distinction of being 
generally regarded as the first permanent settler in the Shen- 
andoah Valley. He certainly was one of the most influential 
citizens of his day, west of the Blue Ridge; and he was 
doubtless the leader in pen.ianent settlement in the section 
now embraced in Frederick County; therefore he has been 
given a prominent place in this narrative; but that he was 
tlie first settler in the vShenandoah Valley, taken as a whole, 
is now no longer claimed with serious intelligence. As was 
intimated in the beginning of this chapter, several permanent 
settlements are known to have been made as much as five or 
six years prior to 1732: these we shall now proceed to notice 
in some detail. 

In the year 1726 or 1727, Morgan ap Alorgan, a Welsh- 
man, removed from Pennsylvania to Virginia; settled within 
the present boundaries of Berkeley County, W. Va. ; and 
erected, at the site of the village of Bunker Hill, what is 
said to have been, and probably was, the "first cabin on the 

6. Hite usually, perhaps always, signed his name in German, but 
did not always spell it the same way. Hite, Heid, Heyd, Heydt, 
Hyte, arc some of the various forms written by himself and others. 
Jost is equivalent to Just, Justus, Justin, etc., and appears in dif- 
ferent forms: Joast, Joist, Yost, etc. 

7. Kercheval's History of the Valley, p. 45. 

8. Peyton's History of Augusta, p. 25; Waddell's Annals of Au- 
gusta, pp. 24, 25. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 35 

Virginia side of the Potomac, between the Bkie Ridge and 
North Mountains."^ Morgan also buih, about 1740, near 
his place of residence, the first Episcopal church in the 
Valley. He died in 1799, leaving a son with the same name. 
The same year that Morgan Morgan settled at Bunker Hill, 
or the year following, a company of Germans crossed the 
Potomac a few miles above Plarper's Ferry, at the old Pack- 
horse Ford ; and, a mile above the crossing, founded a settle- 
ment in what is now Jefferson County, W. Va. This 
settlement soon developed into a village known as New 
Mecklenburg; later, at the time of its legal establishment in 
1762, called Mecklenburg;^'^ and, later still, called Shepherds- 
town after its founder, Thomas Shepherd. ^^ 

In the year 1726 or 1727, when Morgan Morgan was build- 
ing his cabin in the lower Valley, a little band of German 
pioneers, far up on the Shenandoah River, were selecting a 
place to be called home. That they were there at so early a 
date will appear in full as we proceed. They were from 
Pennsylvania ; and were possibly at first members of that 
large and enterprising class of pioneers known as "squatters" ; 
but we shall see that they were ready, as soon as the legal 
forms and representatives of government penetrated the Val- 
ley, to comply fully witii every requirement of legality and 
justice. 

In order to get the case before us fully and authoritatively, 
several documents from Palmer's Calendar of State Papers 
and other sources are herewith presented. 

To the Honble William Gooch Esqr Lieutenant Governor &c &c — 
The petition of the Subscribers humbly shew — 

That about four years past, they purchased five thousand acres 
of land, of one Jacob Stover, and paid him a great Sum of Money 

9. Meade's Old Churches, Vol. II, p. 302; Howe's Antiquities of 
Virginia, p. 273; WaddcU's Annals of Augusta, p. 28; Lewis' Hand- 
book of West Virginia, p. 31. 

10. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VII, p. 600. 

11. Lewis' History of West Virginia, p. 41. 



36- 



THE VALLKY GERMANS. 



for the same, Amounting to Upwards of four hundred pounds: that 
yr: petitioners were informed & believed the sd: Stover had a good 
right & title in the said land — that immediately after the sd: * * ♦ 
all their lands & sevll other things iu^fiie County of Lancaster 
& Province of Pensylvania, where they then lived, & came & seated 
on the land they had bought of the sd Stover; and cleared sevl 
Plantations & made great Improvements thereon — Since which, they 
have been Informed that the sd: land (known by the name of 
Massannutting) is Claimed by one Wm Beverly Gent — & that the sd: 
Beverly hath brought suit agst the sd: Stover for the same, in the 
Honble the General! Court — Yr Petitioners further shew that should 
the sd: Beverley recover the sd: land, that he will turn yr: Petrs out 
of Doors, or oblige them to give much more for their lands & plan- 
tations than they are worth. Which will entirely ruin yr Petrs — And 
yor Petrs cannot recover anything of the sd Stover, to make them 
amends for the Loss of their sd: lands, plantations &c, he being very 
poor, and is Daily Expected to Run away. Wherefore yr. Petitioners 
humbly hope that as they are not Privy to any fraud done by the 
sd: Stover in obtaining the sd: Land & yor petrs being Dutchmen & 
not acquainted with the laws here cbncerning lands & Imagined the 
sd: Stover's right to be good & have Run the hazard of their lives 
& estates in removing from Pensylvania to the sd: land, being above 
two hundred miles & at a time when there was very few Inhabitants 
in them parts of Shenandp, & they frequently visited by the Indians. 
And at this time yr petrs have nine Plantations, fifty one people, old 
& young, thereon & Expect to have two more familys to seat on the 
sd: land this spring, (none of which are any of the persons the sd: 
Stover swore was on the sd: land when he obtained the sd: Patent 
as yr petrs have been informed) nor did yr petrs hear of the sd: 
Beverleys' claiming the said land 'til they had made plantations 
thereon — And yr petrs have also paid his Majesties Quit rents for 
the said land, ever since they bought the sd: land of the sd: Jacob 
Stover, that Your Honrs taking all & Singular, the premisses into 
yr: Consideration, will be pleased to make such order or Decree 
thereon, that yr: petrs may Quietly Injoy the said land. 

And yr: petr will every pray &c 

MILHART RANGDMANN 
ABRAHAM 

MATHEW FOLK 



ADAM MULLER > 1 

M CRIMSART.12 

Tliis petition is not dated; but it is placed in the Calendar 

12. Palmer's Calendar of State Papers, Vol. I, pp. 219, 220. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 



37 



in the year 1733, which is proved by various circumstances to 
be the correct date.^^ Moreover, it was presented early in 
the year, as is shown in ^1^ paper itself by the reference, "this 
spring." The original petition is still in existence, on file in 
the State Library at Richmond; and the signatures, fully 
and correctly given, are as follows : Adam Mueller, Abram 
Strickler, Mathias vSelzer, Philip Lang (Long), Paul Lung 
(Long), Michael Rinehart, Hans Rood, Michael Kaufman.^* 
The following letter, written November 28, 1733, refers to 
the German petitioners and their interests, and fits the cir- 
cumstances already detailed : 

Sir, This is to Inform you that I was at the great mountains & 
saw several dutchmen that Came from Pencelvania and they told me 
they had agreed with Stover for Land on Sherando, but since they 
came they heard that Col: Wm. Beverley was at Law for it, therefore 
they would not settle it, unleF Stover could make them a right to 
it, which if he did they would settle it directly — Which is the need- 
full from 

Sr yr Humble servt 
To Commd 

FRA: THORNTON. 
To Mr. William Robertson, 
at Williamsburg &c.i5 

To supplement the above documents and complete the evi- 
dence for the statements already made, the following paper 
is presented : 

William Gooch Esqr. His Majesty's Lieutenant Governour and 
Commander in Chief of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia. 

To all to whom these Presents Shall come Greeting. 

Whereas by one Act of Assembly made at the Capitol the 23d 
October in the year 1705 for the better Settling and peopling this 
His Majesty's Colony and Dominion it is Enacted that it shall and 
may be Lawful for the Governour and Commander in Chief of this 
Colony and Dominion for the time being by a public Instrument or 
Letters Patents under the broad Seal thereof, to Declare any Alien 
or Aliens Foreigner or Foreigners being already Settled or Inhabit- 

13. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIH, No. 2, pp. 121, 122. 

14. Idem, p. 121. 

15. Palmer's Calendar of State Papers, Vol. I, p. 220. 



38 THE VALLDY GERMANS, 

ants of this Colony or wliich shall hereafter come to Settle Plant or 
Reside therein upon His or theirs taking the oaths therein prescribed 
and subscribing the Test to be to all entents and purposes fully and 
compleatly naturalized and that all persons having Such public In- 
struments or Letters Patents shall by virtue of this Act have and 
Enjoy to them and their Heirs the same Immunities and Rights of 
and unto the Laws and Priviledges of this Colony and Dominion 
as fully and amply as any of His Majesty's Natural Born Subjects 
have and Enjoy within the same an[d] as if the[y] had been born 
within any of His Majesty's Realms and Dominions Provided that 
nothing therein contained Shall be construed to Enable or Give 
power or Priviledge to any Foreigner to Do or Execute any manner 
of thing which by any of the Acts made in England concerning His 
Majesty's Plantations he is Disabled to Do or Execute. 

And Adam Miller born at Shresoini6 in Germany having Settled and 
Inhabited for fifteen years past on Shenandoa in this Colony and now 
made Application to me for the benefit of Naturalization and before 
me taken the oaths prescribed by Law and Subscribed the Test, 
I Do hereby pursuant to the said authority Declare the said Adam 
Miller to be to all intents and purposes, fully and compleatly Natu- 
ralized and to have and Enjoy to him and his Heirs the same Immu- 
nities and Rights of and unto the Laws and Priviledges of this Colony 
and Dominion as fully and amply as any of His Majesty's Natural 
Born Subjects have and Enjoy within the same, and as ^ he had 
been born within any of His Majesty's Realms and Domii.ions ac- 
cording to the aforesaid act saving always in such matters and 
things which by the Laws of England concerning the Plantation he 
is Disabled. 

Given under my hand and the Seal of the Colony at Williamsburg 
this 13th day of March 1741-2 in the 15th year ofi the Reign of our 
Sovereign Lord King George the Second By the Grace of God King 
of Great Brittain &c. 

WILLIAM G00CH.17 

By a very simple process we may now determine almost 
exactly the date of the first settlement at Massaniitting. 
About four years prior to 1733, that is, about 1729,^^ the 

16. Perhaps Scherstein. 

17. The original of this paper is now in the possession of one of 
Adam Miller's descendants, Miss Elizabeth B. Miller, who lives on 
part of the land which he owned, near Elkton, Rockingham County, 
Va. A copy of the document may be found printed in the William 
and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. IX, No. 2, pp. 132, 133. 

18. In 1730, more probably, as will appear a little further on. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 39 

German petitioners had bought their five thousand acres of 
land of Jacob Stover. In 1729, or thereabouts, there were 
not many — but there were a few — inhabitants in the valley 
of the Shenandoah, in the vicinity of Massanutting. That 
Adam Miller, one of the petitioners of 1732, was one of the 
few there in 1729, and that he had located in that district 
two or three years before 1729, are facts proved by his nat- 
uralization-paper, which states that he had been an inhabitant 
there for fifteen years prior to 1741-2:^'' that is, as early as 
1726-7. At this date, therefore, we may place the beginning 
of the Massanutten settlement; and Adam Miller must have 
been one of the first settlers, if not the very first. 

Other facts confirm the above conclusions. On June 17, 
1730, Jacob Stover, a native of Switzerland, obtained for 
himself and "divers Germans and Swiss Families, his Asso- 
ciates," from the Virginia Colonial Council a grant for 10,000 
acres of land on the Shenandoah River, in such tracts as he 
should select, upon the condition that within two years he 
should settle upon it the required number of families. He 
succeeded, by methods fair or false,^" in getting this grant 
confirmed to him by two deeds bearing date of December 15, 
1733, each for 5000 acres.^^ Both of these 5000-acre tracts 
\\ ere on the Shenandoah River : one in the vicinity of Lynn- 

19. The Grepforian calendar was not adopted in the British Em- 
pire until 1751, long after most other countries had been following 
it. In that year it was prescribed by an act of Parliament that the 
next year, 1752, should begin on January 1, instead of March 25; 
and that in the following September eleven days should be dropped, 
in order to adjust the Old Style to the New Style. Accordingly, the 
day following September 2 that year was written and known as 
September 14; and the loss of time has never been felt. Counting 
the year as ending March 25, it was near the close of the year 1741 
when Adam Miller obtained his title to citizenship; but, as we now 
count time, it was early in the year 1742. 

20. Something on the methods Stover is reported to have used 
will be given further on. 

21. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 2, pp. 120-123. 



40 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

wood and Lewiston, now in Rockingham County; the other 
southwest of Luray, now in Page County. It is hkely that 
each was partly on both sides of the river; and each must 
have extended along the course of the river for several miles. 
The tract near Luray was doubtless identical with the 5000 
acres purchased of Stover in 1729, — possibly before he act- 
ually obtained the grant, — or in 1730, the year in which the 
grant was obtained, by Adam Miller, Abram Strickler, Ma- 
thias Selzer, Philip Long, and the rest; for their purchase 
was called Massanutting, as they relate in their petition ; and 
Stover's lower grant of 5000 acres was on Massanutting 
Creek,^^ and so must have included at least part of the little 
valley of the said creek, on the west side of the river, known 
as Massanutten to this day. A village and postoffice, bearing 
the same name, are on the east side of the river, opposite the 
said valley and creek. 

' The foregoing account of the Massanutten settlement, 
based upon original documents still in existence, is in sub- 
stantial agreement with and confirms the following tradi- 
tional account of Adam Miller, preserved by his descendants. 
Adam Miller, as a young man, came from Germany with his 
wife and an unmarried sister, and settled in Lancaster County, 
I'ennsylvania. Later, he went down the Chesapeake Bay into 
Virginia, and near Williamsburg learned from some of the 
members of Spotswood's company of the wonderful land west 
of the Blue Ridge. He went to the Valley, following Spots- 
wood's route, and was so well pleased with the lands along 
the Shenandoah that he at once brought his family thither 
from Pennsylvania. Pie also induced some of his Pennsyl- 
vania friends and neighbors to come to the Valley, and locate 
near him.-^ 

The entire case before us may be briefly summarized as 

22. Kercheval's History of the Valley, p. 45; Foote's Sketches, 
p. 15. 

23. Virginia Magazine, Vol. X, No. 1, pp. 84, 85. 



EARIvY SETTLEMENTS. 41 

follows: In 1726 or 1727, Adam Miller located on the Shen- 
andoah River, near Massanutting; with him or soon follow- 
ing him came his friends, Ahram Strickler, Mathias Selser, 
IMiilip Long,^'* Paul Long, Michael Rinehart, John Rood, and 
Michael Kaufman. On June 17, 1730, Jacob Stover ob- 
tained his two grants on the Shenandoah River of 5000 acres 
each, the lower one of which included the holdings of Adam 
Miller and his friends. Either shortly before or shortly after 
June 17, 1730, Miller and his friends bought this 5000-acre 
tract (the Massanutting tract) of Stover for 400 pounds or 
more. On April 30, 1732, William Beverley wrote to a 
friend in Williamsburg, asking him to secure for him a 
grant of 15,000 acres on both sides of the "main River of 
Shenondore," including an "old field, called and known by ye 
name of Massanutting Town" ;-^ on May 5, 1732, Beverley '' 
was granted 15,000 acres on the northwest side of the river, 
"including a place called Massanutting Town, provided the 
same do not interfere with any of the Tracts already granted 

24. EiRht miles southwest of Luray, on the Price farm, near Mas- 
sanutteii, is a monument with the following inscription: 

In memory of 

Philip Long 

founder of my paternal 

ancestry in America, 
born in Germany A. D. 
1678, Died May 4, 1755. 



Erected by Caroline V. Long Price 

of JefTcrson City, Mo., 

July 4, 1891. 



Built Old Ft. Long 

near the heart of land estate 

granted him by the English Crown 

in 1730. 

For a copy of this inscription I am indebted to the kindness of 
Prof. John S. Flory, of Bridgewater, Va. 

25. Palmer's Calendar of State Papers, Vol. L PP- 217, 218. 



4:2 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

in that part of the Colony."^*' In the early part of 17J3, 
Miller, Strickler, Selzer, and the rest petitioned for a con- 
firmation of their right throngh Stover, as against Beverly, 
who was trying to oust them, or upset their title; on Decem- 
ber 12, 1733, Beverley's caveat against Stover was dismissed: 
Stover's grants were confirmed ; and the deeds were issued 
to him three days later — December 15, 1733.^''^ 

Adam Miller, the pioneer of the Massanutten settlement 
and of the upper Valley, owned first the "uppermost of the 
Massanutten lots," as is shown by the Orange County records. 
This tract, now in the southwestern part of Page County, 
near the Rockingham line, he sold; and, in 1741, settled near 
Elkton, at Bear Lithia Spring.-^ Later he seems to have 
settled still nearer Elkton, upon a site that has been contin- 
uously occupied by his descendants to the present day. In 
religion he was a Lutheran; and that he was possessed of a 
generous measure of Christian charity, as well as of a good 
share of native caution, will appear from the following ex- 
tract from the diary of Leonhard Schnell, a Moravian mis- 
sionary : 

On Sunday, December 3rd fl749], the young Franciscus went very 
early with us to show us the way to Matthias Schaub, who, imme- 
. diately on my offer to preach for them, sent messengers through the 
neighborhood to announce my sermon. In a short time a consid- 
erable number of people assembled, to whom I preached. After the 
sermon I baptized the child of a Hollander. We stayed over night 
with Matthias Schaub. His wife told us that we were always wel- 
come in their house. We should always come to them whenever 
we came into that district. 

Towards evening a man from another district, Adam Mueller, 
passed. I told him that I would like to come to his house and 
preach there. He asked me if I were sent by God. I answered, 
yes. He said, if I were sent by God I would be welcome, but he 
said, there are at present so many kinds of people, that often one 

26. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 2, p. 138. 

27. Idem, pp. 120-122; No. 3, pp. 295-297. 

28. My thanks are due at this point to Mr. Charles E. Kemper, of 
Washington City, for personal assistance. 



EARIvY SETTLEMENTS. , 43 

does not know where they come from. I requested him to notify 
his neig:hbors that I would preach on the 5th, which he did. 

On December 4th, we left Schaub's house, commending the whole 
family to God. We traveled through the rain across the South 
Shenandoah to Adam Mueller, who received us with much love. We 
stayed over night with him. 

On December 5th, I preaclied at Adam Mueller's house on John 7: 
'Whosoever thirsteth let him come to the water and drink.' A 
number of tliirsty souls were present. Especially Adam Mueller 
took in every word and after the Sermon declared himself well 
pleased. In the afternoon we traveled a short distance, staying over 
night with a Swiss. 29 

Adam Miller was a soldier in the French and Indian War, 
as is shown by the military schedule in Hening's Statutes, 
where his name appears along- with those of others who re- 
ceived pay from the Colony for services, September, l/SS.^*^ 
He lived to an advanced age, dying about the close of the 
Revolution. 

It may be profitable at this juncture to catalogue, in chrono- 
logical order, some of the earliest grants of large tracts of 
land, west of the Blue Ridge; two or three of which have 
been already referred to. It will be observed ■ that some of 
these grants were made to Germans and Scotch-Irish from 
Pennsylvania ; one at least to Germans from the Spotswood 
colonies; and some to Englishmen from East Virginia. 

In 1727, Robert Lewis, William Lynn, Robert Brooke, Jr., 
James Mills, William Lewis, and Beverly Robinson petitioned 
for 50,000 acres, "on the head branches of James River to 
the West and Northwestward of the Cow Pasture."^^ This 
tract lay beyond the Valley, in the present counties of High- 
land and Bath. Whether the grant was made or not seems 
unknown. 

On October 28, 1728, Robert Carter, in behalf of the Pro- 
prietors of the Northern Neck, entered a caveat against grant- 

29. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 2, pp. 126, 127. 

30. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VII, p. 186. 

31. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. I, p. 214. 



44 ' THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

ing a patent for 10,000 acres on both sides of Happy Creek, 
"joining on the great Mountains, &c &c," to Larkin Chew and 
others.^ ^ This tract was evidently in the present county of 
Warren : Happy Creek flows out of the Blue Ridge, and into 
the Shenandoah River just below Front Royal. William Rus- 
sell was probably one of the "others" to whom the contested 
grant was made; for he and "his partners" took up land in 
that locality in 1728.^^ This seems to have been the first 
legal attempt made by anyone to secure lands in the Shenan- 
doah Valley. 

In 1729 Colonel Robert Carter ("King Carter") secured 
a grant of 50,000 acres of land, probably from the Proprietors 
of the Northern Neck, in the lower Valley, on the west bank 
of the Shena ndoah R iver.^^ This tract included part of the 
northeast end of Warren County and a considerable portion 
of Clarke County. This large grant, secured in this section 
by Robert Carter at this early date, will explain the fact that 
the people of Clarke County are chiefly English. Only a few 
Germans got into that sectibn of the Valley. 

On June 17, 1730, John Van Meter was assigned 10,000 
acres in the fork of the Shenandoah, including the places 
called Cedar Lick and Stony Lick, and "twenty thousand 
acres of land not already taken up by Robert Carter & Mann 
Page, Esqrs., or any other lying in the fork between the 
Sd River Sherrando and the River, Cahongaroota, & extend- 
ing thence to Opeckon & up the South Branch thereof," for 
"himself & eleven children, & also that divers of his Rela'cons 
& friends living in the Government of New York."^^ This 
was some of the land secured a little later by Jost Hite. 

On the same date Isaac Van Meter, brother to John, ob- 
tained a grant of 10,000 acres lying between Carter's land, 

32. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. I, p. 215. 

33. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 4, pp. 354, 355. 

34. Idem, No. 2, pp. 116, 117. ' 

35. Idem, pp. 115-117. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 4r5 

the River, and the Opequon Creek.^*^ Hite and his colony 
probably got this tract also. 

On the same date (June 17, 1730) Jacob Stover, of 
Switzerland, got his first two grants, each of 5000 acres, one 
in the Massanutten district, the other farther up the Shenan- 
doah River, in the present county of Rockingham.^^ 

On October 28, 1730, Alexander Ross and Morgan Bryan, 
of Pennsylvania, were granted 100,000 acres in the vicinity 
of Winchester, between the Opequon Creek and the North 
Mountain (Alleghany), upon which they settled a colony of 
Friends.'''^ 

On June 10, 1731, William Beverley, Joseph Smith, Joseph 
Clapham, Thomas Watkins, and Simeon Jeffries obtained a 
grant of 20,000 acres on the western side, of the lower Val- 
ley, in Frederick and Shenandoah County, between Cedar 
Creek and Lost River.^^ i 

On the same date, John Fishback, Jacob Holtzclow, Henry 
Settler, Jacob Sengaback, Peter Reid, Michael Shower, John 
Vandehouse, George Wolf, William Carpenter, and John 
Richlu, "in behalf of themselves and other German Protest- 
ants," obtained a grant of 50,000 acres between the Blue 
Ridge and the Shenandoah River, in the present counties of 
Warren and Page.^" These men were from east of the Blue 
Ridge, and some belonged to the Germanna families. 

On October 21, 1731, Robert McKay and "Joost Heyd," of ' JoSt / 
Pennsylvania, were assigned 100,000 acres in several tracts. 
The order of the Council in full is given herewith : 

On the peticon of Rob't McKay & Joost Heyd, of the Province of 
Pensilvania, setting: forth that they & divers other Families to the 
number of one hundred are desirous to remove from thence & Seat 

36. Idem, pp. 118, 119. 

37. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 2, pp. 120-123. 

38. Idem, pp. 127, 128. 

39. Idem, pp. 130-132. 

40. Idem, pp. 132, 133. 



46 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

themselves on the back of the great Mountains within this Colony, 
& praying that one hundred thousand acres of Land lying between 
the Line of the Land granted to John Vanmeter, Jacob Stover, John 
Fishback & others may be assigned them, and that the Residue of 
the sd hundred thousand acres may be assigned upon & including 
the several Branches of Sherundo River, above the Land of the said 
Stover & Fishback and his Partners. The Governor, with the ad- 
vice of the Council, is pleas'd to order, as it is hereby Ordered, that 
the petrs, in behalf of themselves & their Partners, have leave to 
take up the Sd Quantity of 100,000 acres of Land within the Limits 
above described, & that upon the above Number of Families coming 
to dwell there within two Years, Patents shall be granted them in 
such manner as they shall agree to divide the same.'ii 

In the association of McKay with Hite we see the reason 
for the commingHng of the Germans and Scotch-Irish in the 
lower Valley.'*^ 

, On May 5, 1732, Francis Willis, John Lewis, and Francis 
K.irkley were granted 10,000 acres on both sides of the South 
Shenandoah, just above the mouth of the Hawksbill Creek.'*^ 
O'his grant must have extended up to, probably into, Jacob 
Stover's lower tract of 5000 acres — the Massanutten tract. 
The John Lewis mentioned here does not appear to have been 
the Scotch-Irish pioneer of Augusta. 

On October 27, 1732, William Russell was granted 20,000 
acres in and about the forks of the Shenandoah, near Front 
Royal and Riverton, in lieu of what he had claimed from the 
Van Meter grants.^* 

On October 28, 1734, JojmTayloe,_ Thomas Lee, and Wil- 
liam Beverly obtained a grant of 60,0 00 acres on the Shenan- 
doah River, adjoining above Jacob Stover's upper tract of 
5 000 acr es.^^ 

In 1736, or thereabouts, Benjamin Burden (Borden) was 
granted a tract of 100,000 acres — possibly 500,000 acres — 

41. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIH, No. 2, pp. 133, 134. 

42. Lewis' History of West Virginia, p. 42; Foota's Sketches, etc. 

43. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIH, No. 2, p. 138. 

44. Idem, No. 3, pp. 288, 289. 

45. Idem, No. 4, pp. 360-362. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. ^7 

lying at present in Rockbridge County and the upper part 
of Augusta.'*" 

Among the Gernlans who thus early obtained large grants 
cf land, Jost Hite and Jacob Stover are the most prom inent. 
Both have been spoken of repeatedly in the foregoing pages; 
yet it may be well at this juncture to present a few addi- 
tional facts in regard to each of them. 

The rather uncomplimentary suggestions made with ref- 
erence to some of Stover's methods in securing his land 
grants, will be understood from the following story, related 
Ijy Kercheval : 

On his application to the executive for his grant, he was refused 
unless he could give satisfactory assurance that he would have the 
land settled with the requisite number of families within a given 
time. Being unable to do this, he forthwith passed over to Eng- 
land, petitioned the King to direct his grant to be issued, and in 
order to insure success, had given human names to every horse, 
cow, hog and dog he owned, and which he represented as heads of 
families, ready to migrate and settle the land. By this disingenious 
trick he succeeded in obtaining directions from the King and Council 
for securing his grant; on obtaining which he immediately sold 
out his land in small divisions, at three pounds (equal to ten dollars) 
per hundred, and went off with the money.4" 

This story appears to be strengthened by several state- 
ments in the petition of 1733, of Adam Miller, Abram Strick- 
ler, and the rest; for they declare that none of their fifty-one 
inhabitants at JMassanutting, or of the two other families 
soon expected, were "any of the persons the sd : Stover swore 
v.as on the sd : land when he obtained the sd : Patent as yr 
petrs have been informed."'*^ They also assert that the said 
vStover is very poor, "and is Daily Expected to Run away." 
Kercheval's assertion, that he did run away, is, however, 
probably a mistake; for the public records show that he was 

46. Withers' Chronicles, p. 50; Peyton's History of Augusta, p. 65; 
Early Deed Books of Orange, Augusta, and Frederick. 

47. Kercheval's History of the Valley, p. 40. 

48. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. I, p. 220. 



48 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

in the country almost continuously until his death, which 
occurred about 1740. 

The deeds received by Stover, December 15, 1733, for the 
two grants of 5000 acres each, obtained over- three years 
before, are said to be the first crown patents issued for lands 
in Virginia west of the Blue "Ridge.*" By the time these 
patents were issued he seems to have had the required number 
of bona fide settlers on the lower tract, and possibly on the 
upper one also. 

But it was not long until Stover either got back his Mas- 
sanutten tract, or secured other tracts very close to it. On 
September 17, 1735, he sold to Christian Clemon 550 acres 
on the south side of the Shenandoah, adjoining the 'upper 
corner of his lower five thousand Tract.'^*^ On November 
10, 1735, he sold to George Boone two tracts, of 1000 acres 
and 500 acres respectively, situated on a 'small branch of 
Sharrando River' — part of 5000 acres laid out for him by 
the Virginia Council, June 17, 1730.^^ These 1500 acres 
sold to Boone were evidently part of the 5000-acre tract that 
the petitioners of 1733 had bought. The grant seems to 
have been capable of indefinite expansion. But more is to 
come. On December 15, 16, 1735, Stover sold to five men, 
Henry Sowter, Abraham Strickler, Ludwick Stone, John Bru- 
baker, and Mathias Selser, ten tracts of land, aggregating 
3400 acres. Sowter got 300 acres on the south side of the 
river, "near the mouth of Mesenuttin Creek" ; Strickler got 
1000 acres at "Mesenuttin on Gerundo"; Stone got three 
tracts of 400 acres, 400 acres, and 300 acres, respectively, 
'"on Gerundo River" ; Brubaker got two tracts, one of 300 
acres, one of 200 acres, on the river — the larger tract ad- 
joining Mathias Selser; Selser got three tracts, two of 200 
acres each, one of 100 acres, "on Gerundo River."'^^ 

49. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 3, p. 297. 

50. Orange County Deed Book No^ 1, pp. 151-154. 

51. Idem, pp. 184-188. 
62. Idem, pp. 200-216. 



EARivY SETTLEMENTS. 49 

The capacious extensions of "Massaniitten" may be ex- 
plained, perhaps, by recalHng that the term was sometimes 
appHed to the whole Page valley; but how shall we explain 
Stover's repeated possession of the original 5000-acre tract, 
or at least large parts of it? Observe, in addition to the 
above, the two following cases: On September 20, 21, 1736, 
Stover sold to Peter Bowman 400 acres on the west side of 
the river, part of the 5000 acres granted to Stover, and the 
part he then lived on^'*^ ; and on March 20, 21, 1738, he sold 
to Christopher Franciscus 3000 acres, with the mansion 
house, the land adjoining Peter Bowman on the river, and 
being part of the 5000-acre tract patented by Jacob Stover, 
December 15, 1733/''''* Evidently, by purchase or otherwise. 
Stover must have come into a second possession of the greater 
part of the land sold to the petitioners of 1733. In 1737 
and 1738 there was some litigation between Stover and Lud- 
wig Stone and others, concerning land; and a complete record 
might explain much of the foregoing; but unfortunately 
some of the papers relating to these legal proceedings appear 
to be lost.^^ 

On March 21, 1738, Jacob Stover and his wife Margaret 
gave their bond to Christopher Franciscus for £700; later 
in the same year they gave another bond for £1000; and, in 
security, mortgaged 5000 acres of land on both sides of the 
vShenandoah River. '^^ This may have been the upper tract, 
obtained in 1730. On December 13, 1738, Stover got a 
grant of 800 acres on the Shenandoah, near or adjoining his 
upper tract of 5000 acres. ^^ On June 25, 1740, he conveyed 

53. Idem, pp. 353-356. 

54. Orange County Deed Book No. 2, pp. 229-232. 

55. See Orange County Records; also, Virginia Magazine, Vol. 
XIII, No. 2, pp. 120-123. 

56. Orange County Deed Book No. 2, pp. 233, 234. 

57. Augusta County Deed Book No. 4, pp. 58, 65, etc. 
—4 



50 TllC VAIvtEY GERMANS. 

to Christopher Francisco, Sr,, 3100 acres of land a few miles 
below Port Republic. ^^ This was evidently part of the upper 
5000-acre tract, and the conveyance was likely made to sat- 
isfy the mortgage of 1738. In 1751 Christopher Francisco, 
probably the youngef, who had come into possession of at 
least 470 acres of the upper Stover tracts, sold that amount 
to Thomas Lewis ;^" and the same year (1751), Jacob Stro- 
ver — probably Jacob Stover, Jr. — owned a 5000-acre tract 
en the upper Shenandoah.*'" 

Jacob Stover, Sr., died near the end of 1740, or early in 
1741. On March 22, 1741, Jacob Stover [Jr.], with Henry 
Downs and Jacob Castle, gave bond for administering the 
estate. The record of the sale shows that a considerable 
amount of personal property was to be disposed of; it also 
shows that Ludowick Francisco, John Bumgardner, Philip 
Long, and Jacob Castle were among the purchasers. Fran- 
cisco bought most.*'^ 

A proportionate sketch from known facts of Jost Kite's 
career would be an almost endless task, and cannot be under- 
taken here; neither is there any real need for it, since the 
subject has so frequently been presented to the public.^^ 

As has been intimated near the beginning of this chapter, 
Jost Hite was a man of influence and prominence in the 
public affairs of his day, both civil and military; and mauy 
of his descendants have been of almost equal prominence. 
On April 23, 1734, the Virginia Colonial Council, upon the 
petition of the inhabitants west of the Blue Ridge for the 

58. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 2, p. 120; Orange County 
Records. 

59. Augusta County Deed Book No. 4, p. 58. 

60. Idem, No. .3, pp. 498-503. 

61. Orange County Will Book No. 1, pp. 140, 204, 205. 

62. One of the fullest accounts of Hite and his descendants may 
be found in the West Virginia Historical Magaziae, for April, 1903. ' 
It is, however, in error in so far as it represents Hite as the first 
settler in the Valley. 



Early settlements. 51 

establishment of some form of civil system, appointed Jo?L 
Hite, with Morgan Morgan, John Smith, Benjamin Bourden, 
and George Hobson, a magistrate, with authority to setUe 
differences and punish offenders against the public welfare.*'^ 
In 1748 Jacob Hite, Jost Hite's second son, was appointed 
sheriff for Frederick County, by Governor Gooch ; he gave 
bond in the sum of £1000, with John Hite (his elder brother), 
Isaac Hite (his next younger brother), Thomas.xSwearingen, 
and Samuel Earle as sureties.*"'^ Abraham Hite, Jost's fourth 
son, was a leading man of affairs in Hampshire County, and 
represented it in the House of Burgesses; he was a captain 
in the Revolutionary War, and served as paymaster of the 
8th Virginia (German) Regiment. Others of the family 
were members of the House of Burgesses from Berkeley 
County. Major Isaac Hite (1758-1836), son of Isaac and 
grandson of Jost, was aide to General Muhlenberg at the 
siege of Yorktown. Isaac Hite married James Madison's 
sister, Nelly. He seems to have been the first man elected 
to membership in the now world-famous Phi Beta Kappa 
Society, founded by John Heath and others at William and 
Mary College, December 5, 1776. In January, 1777, the 
charter members assembled and chose officers; on March' 1, 
laws were adopted ; and, at a called meeting on March 27, 
Hite was elected to membership. He was the only one elected 
at the time, and was evidently the first man chosen by the 
charter members. Bushrod Washington, John Marshall, and 
other men who won national eminence were among the early 
members of^ the society.^ ^ 

Jost Hite's greatest public service was doubtless performed 
in aiding, directing, and stimulating the rapid settlement and 

63. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIII, No. 4, pp. 351, 352. 

64. Frederick County Deed Book No. 1, p. 49L 

65. William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. X, pp. 120, 121. — 
For Hite's connection with the Phi Beta Kappa, see the same mag- 
azine for April, 1896. 



52 THE VALIvKY GERMANS. 

development of the country. The county deed books of 
Orange, Frederick, and Augusta contain ahnost innumerable 
records of land sales by Jost Hite. At the beginning ol liis 
colonizing enterprises in the lower Valley he had associated 
with him, as we have seen, Robert McKay. Later, Hite and 
McKay seem to have entered into a partnership in the land 
business with William Duff and Robert Green — the last being 
from 1736 to 1740 a member of the Virginia Colonial As- 
sembly from Orange County, and later sheriff.'''' One of 
the best known grants secured by Hite, McKay, Duff, and 
Green was obtained on March 26, 1739, and contained 7009 
acres — a tract that embraced much of the fertile Linville 
Creek valley, now in Rockingham County. 

Very early in his career in the Valley, Jost Hite came into 
conflict with Thomas Lord Fairfax. The latter claimed the 
land within Hite's early grants, and the case wa^ in the law 
courts for fifty years. This contention over titles caused a 
good many of the Germans, and possibly the Scotch-Irish 
also, following Hite into the Valley, to pass by his section 
and seek an abode further up, where the lands were not 
claimed by two parties. This dispute, coupled with the fact 
that the Scotch-Irish early secured a foothold in the upper 
Valley, explains to a great extent the concentration of the 
German element in the section between Winchester and Staun- 
ton. The case was finally decided favorably to Hite in 1786, 
four years after Fairfax's death, and twenty-six years after 
the death of Hite. 

In 1753, Colonel John Hite, Jost Hite's eldest son, erected 
a fine stone house, still standing and excellently preserved, at 
vSpringdale, Frederick County, where the Valley Pike crosses 
the Opequon Creek. This is probably the site of the pioneer's 
first dwelling. In 1783, John Hite, Jr., built a large stone 
mill on the Opequon, at Springdale. This mill, at the time 
it was built, was the largest and best in the Valley; and, 

66. Colonial Virginia Register, pp. 109, 112. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 53 

with modern improvements, it is still running. In the south 
wing of the old mansion is a large fireplace, with a bake-oven 
built into the wall at the left-hand side. In the adjoining 
room is another fireplace, the back of which is composed of 
a large cast-iron plate. On this plate, cast in bold relief, is 
the figure of a coat-of-arms, occupying a space about eighteen 
inches square. The cast has been considerably defaced by 
fire and rust, so that it is not very easily identified; but the 
writer was informed, upon a visit to Springdale a few years 
ago, that the casting represents the coat-of-arms of Lord 
Fairfax. If this statement be correct, the fact is deemed 
rather singular, in view of the protracted legal contests be- 
tween Fairfax and the Hites. It may be, however, — let us 
hope it is true, — that they were enemies only in court. Lord 
Fairfax and Colonel John Hite were in 1752 both vestrymen 
in the Episcopal church of Frederick County :^^ possibly they 
did not allow the matter of a land title to vie with Christian 
charity. Another explanation of the figure in the fireplace 
is possible : It may be the coat-of-arms of the Hites them- 
selves. Jost Hite has been called "the old German Baron" f^ 
and his family is represented as entitled to a place in the roll 
of Virginia heraldry.'*^ 

Apart from Jost Hite, Jacob Stover, and a few others who 
took up large grants of land at a very early date, most of the 
German settlers in the Valley contented themselves with the 
purchase of small tracts, ranging usually from a hundred 
to four or five hundred acres. A small farm, well tilled, 
seemed to be the ideal of the majority. A few, however, 
purchased larger bodies of land, for the purpose, usually, of 
selling it in smaller parcels to later comers. Of this number 
may be mentioned the following: The Funks and Stephen.., 
in the lower Valley; Peter Stover and Jacob Miller, in the 

67. Meade's Old Churches, Vol. II, p. 281. 

68. West Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 118. 

69. Baltimore Sun, July 16, 23, 1905. 



54 rut VALLEY GERMANS. 

section now embraced in Shenandoah County; Ludwig Stone. 
the Stricklers, and the Ruffners, of Page County; and Wil- 
Ham Lenivell, George Bowman, Samuel Wilkins, and Chris- 
topher Franciscus, of Rockingham County. Several of these 
men — the Stephens, Peter Stover, and Jacob Miller — will 
appear again later in connection with the founding of the 
towns. 

One of the largest of these landholders was Peter Ruffner. 
He was the first of the name in Virginia, and settled in 1739 
at the large spring on the Hawksbill Creek, now close by the 
edge of the town of Luray. His wife was Mary Steinman, 
whose father gave them a large body of land extending up 
both sides of the Hawksbill a distance of eight miles from 
its mouth. Ruffner himself added to the estate, extending 
his possessions four miles further up the stream. 

William Lenivell bought in 1746 of Hite, McKay, and 
Green, 1500 acres about the headwaters of the stream that 
evidently was named after him — Lenivell's Creek, now Lin- 
ville Creek. In 1746 and 1749 George Bowman bought two 
tracts, aggregating over a thousand acres,' on Linville Creek : 
the first tract he bought of William Lenivell; the second, of 
Jost Hite. -Samuel Wilkins owned large bodies of land on 
Cook's Creek, about the present town of Dayton, and else- 
where. 

One of the most interesting characters of the class and 
period under consideration is Christopher Franciscus, some 
of whose dealings with Jacob Stover have already been no- 
ticed. He, with other Germans and Swiss, located in Lan- 
caster County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1709.'^" On March 
21, 1738, he bought of Jacob Stover 3000 acres of land, with 
the mansion house, for £350 5s. ; the same day he appears 
to have loaned Stover £700, and later the same year, £1000, 
to secure which he took a mortgage on 5000 acres of Stover's 
land. By these transactions he seems to have come into 

70. Rupp's Thirty Thousand Names, p. 436. 



EARLY SETTLEMENTS. 55 -' ^ 

possession of large estates within the present Hmits of both 
Page County and Rockingham. Most of his land appears 
to have been along the Shenandoah ^River between Elkton 
and Port Republic. On December 13, 1738, he bought of 
Jacob Stover in this vicinity 470 acres, which he sold in 1751 
to Thomas Lewis, who was the eldest son of the pioneer, 
John Lewis, and a brother to Gen. Andrew and Col. Charles 
I^ewis. I'he tract of 3100 acres below Port Republic, con- 
veyed to Franciscus by Stover in 1740, was probably to 
satisfy the mortgage of 1738, securing the lokn of £1700. 

On November 20, 1747, Ludwick Francisco, a son of Chris- 
topher, bought of Henry Downs 470 acres on the south side 
of the Shenandoah River." ^ During the years 1749 and 
1750, Christopher Franciscus sold land in Augusta (now . 
Rockingham) County to various persons; among others/ 
Jacob and Valentine Pence, John Craig, and Henry Dooley. 
On February 6, 7, 1750, "Christopher Franciscus, Senior, of 
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Anna Margaret his 
wife" sold to Jacob Thomas for £25 5s., from a large tract 
of 3000 acres, 185 acres of land on "Shannandore river and 
Cubrun.""^ The witnesses to this transaction were Nicholas 
Null and Christopher Franciscus, Jr. The latter signed in 
German. His father and mother both made their marks.''^^ 
On August 15, 1751, C. Franciscus, Sr., makes C. Franciscus, 
Jr., his lawful attorney for the sale of his 3100 acres of land 
in Augusta County, on the Shenandoah River.'* During the 
years 1751 and 1752 Christopher and Ludwig Franciscus, 
attorneys, sell land in Augusta to Thomas Lewis, Gabriel 
Jones, Peter Hull, Patrick Wilson, Ludwig Franciscus, 

7L Augusta County Deed Book No. 1, pp. 453, 454. 

72. Cub Run heads between Harrisonburpf and the Peaked Moun- 
tains, runs round the end of Peaked Mountain, and flows into the 
Shenandoah River near Almond P. O. 

73. Augusta County Deed Book No. 2, pp. 715-718. 

74. Idem, No. 3, pp. 469, 470. 



/ 
/ 



5G THK VALI^EY GERMANS. 

Nicholas Null, Valentine Pence, Nicholas Trout, and Maurice 
Pound. In February of 1751, Henry Lanciscus (probably 
Franciscus), bought of James Wood, William Russell, and 
William Green 310 acres of land on the north and south 
forks of the South Branch of the Potomac — evidently near 
the present town of Moorefield, W. Va.'^^ Henry was prob- 
ably another son of Christopher Franciscus, Sr. 

Whether these Franciscos were kinsmen to Peter Fran- 
cisco,^'' the strong man of Charlotte County, Virginia, or not, 
the writer is unable to say ; but it seems probable that they 
were not related. So far as. I know, there is no one in Rock- 
ingham County at present bearing the name. In Craig 
County, Virginia, there is a postoffice called Francisco, and a 
Francisco Mill; and between 1830 and 1840 a prominent 
citizen of Bath County was Charles L. Francisco. It is 
possible that Christopher Francisco, Sr., never fixed his home 
in the Valley; but his sons appear to have been permanent 
residents. In 1749 the Moravian rnissionaries, Leonhard 
Schnell and John Brandmueller, were in the neighborhood 
between Port Republic and Elkton; and, on December 2, 
Schnell wrote in his diary as follo)\'s : 

We continued our journey the whole day, because we wished to be 
with the Germans on Sunday. Once we lost our way. But our 
desire to preach to-morrow strengthened us in our journey. In the 
evening we attempted to hire a man to go with us part of the way, 
but none was willing. We continued for a time down the Tschanator 
fShenandoah] and arrived rather late at the house of the sons of the 
old Stopfel [Christopher] Franciscus, who kept us over night. 

On Sunday, December 3rd, the young Franciscus went very early 
with us to show us the way to Matthias Schaub, who, immediately 
on my oflfer to preach for them, sent messengers through the neigh- 
borhood to announce my sermon. "7 

75. Augusta County Deed Book No. 3, pp. 129-134. 

76. Howe's Antiquities; Hening's Statutes, Vol. 13, pp. 220, 221; 
William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. XIII, p. 213; Vol. XIV, 
pp. 107-112. 

77. Virginia Magazirte, Vol. XI, No. 2, p. 126. 



CHAPTER V. 
Counties and County Records. 

It may be helpful, before proceeding to what shall follow, 
to give at this point a brief account of the formation of the 
several counties in the Shenandoah Valley. 

From the erection of Spottsylvania County in 1720, the 
whole country west of the Blue Ridge was considered as 
embraced within its limits, until the formation of Orange 
County, in 1734. From this date the Valley sections and 
adjacent regions to the west continued a part of Orange till 
1738, when the country west of the Blue Ridge was divided 
into Frederick and Augusta. The establishment of these two 
counties was provided for by an Act of Assembly of No- 
vember, 1738; but the two districts were to remain parts of 
Orange County until the Governor and Council should decide 
that the number of inhabitants was sufficient to warrant the 
establishment of courts and the appointment of justices.^ It 
will be recalled, however, that as early as 1734 Jost Hite and 
others had been appointed magistrates for the regulation of 
local questions west of the mountains. In 1739 a petition 
was presented to Governor Gooch from the lower Valley, 
setting forth the hardships of going all the way, in some 
cases as far as a hundred miles, to Orange Court House to 
transact legal business, and praying that "ye sd : County of 
Frederica may immediately take place."^ To this petition 
was appended a list of fifty-two names.^ But it was not 

1. Heninff's Statutes, Vol. r,. pp. 78, 79. 

2. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. I, p. 233. 

3. Possibly there wc/e only 47 names. Palmer gives only "two, 
those of Henry Funk and John Little, saying that there were fifty 
others. By the kindness of Dr. H. J. Eckenrode, Archivist, Virginia 



58 THE VALl^EY GERMANS. 

until 1743 that the request of the petitioners was complied 
with : the first session of court being held in Frederick County 
on November 11, 1743.'* Courts were established in Augusta 
County in 1745. 

In September, 1744, an Act was passed providing for the 
surveying of the line between Frederick and Augusta, and 
for dividing the cost of the work between the citizens of the 
two districts.^ Frederick embraced all that is now Shenan- 
doah, with a part of Page; Warren, Clarke, Frederick; and 
the West Virginia counties of Jefiferson, Berkeley, Hamp- 
shire, and a part of Hardy. Augusta embraced Rockingham, 
with parts of Hardy, Pendleton, and Page; as well as the 
counties of Rockbridge, Botetourt, and the great country 

State Library, I am .enabled to present the entire list of petitioners, 

excepting one or tWo, as follows: 

Henry Funk^ Jno. Hackman 

John Little Jacob Hackman, Jr. 

John Crovvsson . John Denton 

Tho. Foster Riclul Tidwe'l (?) 

"^ Charles Baker Christian Blank 

John Downton Joseph Ballinger 

Robert Mcfaison Isaac Parkins 

Thomas Hankins Wm. McMachen 

Robert Mackay, Junr. John Hardin 

John Branson Aleredith 



John Flemingvvay Lewis Neill 

John Willcocks John Lintey 

Jacob Funk«^ -John Neill 

John Funkv' Jonas Lum 

John F. Funk, Jim/' John Bowker 

Peter Stouffer John Vane 

Jacob F. Funk, Jun.v Charles Handgin 

Honny F. Funk, Jun.* Isaac Foster 

Adem Funk 



Dellinper Swearingen 

Frederick Dellinger Ralph Orefe (?) 

Geo. Bellinger, Jun. 

Jacob Hackman 

Peter Bowman 

4. West Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2, p. 20. 

5. Hening's Statutes, Vol. 5, p. 275. 



COUNTY RECORDS. 69 

west, as far as anyone cared to venture. In November, 1753, 
an Act of Assenibly provided for the erection of Hampshire 
County from Frederick and Augusta." In February, 1772, 
Frederick County was further divided, and from it were 
erected the new counties of Berkeley and Dunmore, both of 
which were to be organized from May 15, 1772.^ Owing 
to the disfavor that Lord Dunmore brought upon himself 
early in the Revolutionary struggle, the people of Dunmore 
County would no longer endure the name. By an Act of 
Assembly of October, 1777, the name was to be changed to 
"Shanando" from and after February 1, 1778.^ "Shanando" 
came in time to be "Shenandoah." In October, 1777, Rock- 
ingham County and Parish were formed from Augusta ; in 
October, 1785, Hardy was formed from Hampshire; and in 
October, 1787, Pendleton was formed from Augusta, Hardy, 
and Rockingham.*^ Although the counties of Hampshire, 
Hardy, and Pendleton are beyond the Shenandoah Valley, a 
notice of their formation is included here for the reason that 
by virtue of their adjacent position on the west of Frederick, 
Shenandoah, and Rockingham, they received a considerable 
influx of the German settlers of the Valley. 

A number of abstracts from the county records of Orange, 
Frederick, and Augusta, for the years beginning with 1735 
and ending with 1755, will now be presented in chronological 
order. These are deemed valuable in our study for different 
reasons, historical and genealogical. They have been pre- 
pared chiefly from the deed books, and will therefore not 
only supply the names of many of the German families that 
located and purchased lands in the various sections during 
the several years up to the French and Indian War, but will 
also furnish material for an economic study in the progress 

6. Idem, Vol. 6, p. 376. 

7. Idem, Vol. 8, pp. nOT, 598. 

8. Idem, Vol. 9, p. 424. 

9. Idem, p. 420; Vol. 12, pp. 86, 87; 637, 638. 



60 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

of land values during the period covered. It should be borne 
in mind, however, that the items here given are selected from 
a greater number, especially in the years immediately pre- 
ceding and following 1740; and therefore do not afford a 
safe basis for comparing one year with another in respect to 
the rate of German immigration. 

1735. 
From Orange County Deed Book No. 1. 

July 14, 15 1**^ — Henry Willis sells to Jacob Funks for 
£100 5s.^^ 2030 A., commonly called Stony Lick, on Tumb- 
ling Run, on the N, side of the N. Branch of Sherando : 
granted to Henry Willis, Aug. 21, 1734. 

Sept. 17: — Jacob Stover (his mark) sells to Christian 
Clemon for £28 5s. 550 A,, on a small run, on the S. side of 
Gerundo River, adjoining the upper corner of Stover's lower 
5000 A. tract.— Witnesses, G. Home (?), Thomas Hill, W. 
Russell. 

Nov. 10, 11:— Jacob Stover (Stauber) sells for £29 5s., 
Pennsylvania money, to George Boone two tracts of land. 
500 A. and 1000 A., 'situate near the end of the North Moun- 
tain, so-called, on a small branch of Sherrando River': part 
of 5000 A. laid out for Stauber by the Va. Council, June 17, 
1730. — Witnesses, Mordecai Simon, S. Hughes. — Boone was 
from Oley, Pa. Boone's Run, which heads in Peaked IVIt., 
runs east, and flows into the Shen. R. about 2 miles below 
Elkton, was probably named after him. 

Dec. 15, 16: — Jacob Stover sells to Ludwick Stone for £84 
5s. three tracts of land, 400 A., 400 A., 300 A., on Gerundo 
River. 

10. The double dates are owing to the legal requirements of the 
time. Upon the first date the parcel of ground was leased, usually 
for a year; upon the next day the "release" was given, and "use" 
was transferred into "possession." 

11. The sum of 5 shillings is in almost evory case the "considera- 
tion" in the earlier instrument — the "lease." 



COUNTY RECORDS. 61 

Dec. 15, 16: — Jacob Stover sells to Mathias Selser for £41 
5s. three tracts of land, ?00 A., 200 A.; 100 A., on Gerundo 
River. 

Dec. 15, 16: — Jacob Stover sells to John Prupecker (Bru- 
baker) of Pa., for £41 5s., two tracts of land: 300 A. on the 
N, side of Gerundo River, adjoining Mathias Selser; 200 A. 
on Gerundo River. — Witnesses, John Bramham, Gideon 
Marr, William Ferrell. 

Dec. 15, 16: — ^Jacob Stover sells to Abraham Strickler of 
Pa., for £84 5s., 1000 A. at "Mesenuttin on Gerundo," ap- 
parently on the N. side of the river. 

Dec. 15, 16: — Jacob Stover sells to Henry Sowter (?) for 
£15 5s. 300 A. on the S. side of Gerundo, near the mouth of 
Mesenuttin Creek. 

1736. 

From Orange County Deed Book No. 1. 

Feb. 23, 24: — Ludwig Stein (Stone) sells to Michael Cry- 
ter of Pa., for £100 5s., three tracts of land, 217 A., 200 A., 
100 A., on Gerundo R. — Witnesses, Gideon Marr (perhaps 
More), John Newport. — For the sake of the names of per- 
sons and places, the description of these lots is copied below : 

Three parcels or tracts of land situate lying & being on Gerundo 
River. The first tract contains 200 acres & lies on the South side 
Gerundo between Matthias Selser & Michael Coffman. The other 
tract is the uppermost of the Mesenuften Lotts and joins at the 
upper side of Martin Cofifman's upper tract and contains 200 acres. 
The other piece lies near Elk Lick on ye north Side Gerundo ad- 
joining to Martin Coffman and John Prupecker. — (F^rom the Lease.) 

The next tract [the second] begins at the uppermost corner of 
Stover's survey and runeth from the river N 5 E 490 poles to ye 
uppermost corner at the mountain thence N 80 E 48 poles to two 
corner white oaks & ash thence S 7 E 540 poles to river thence up 
ye sd River to the beginning. The third "tract is an hundred acre 
tract adjoining to Martin Coffman's tract at Elk Lick and Pru- 
pecker's lower tract. — (From the Release. There appear to be a few 
discrepancies in the statements of quantity.) 

Feb. 23 : — Ludowick Stein sells to Michael Coffman for 



/ 



62 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

£40 5s. 217 A. on Gerundo R. : part of the land formerly 
granted to Jacob Stover. 

Mar. 20, 21 : — Jost Hite sells to Christian Niswanger for 
£16 435 A. on the W. side of Sherrendo: part of 3395 A. 
granted to Hite, June 12, 1734. 

Mar. 23, 24: — Jost Hite sells to Stephen Hunsenbella for 
£14 5s. 450 A. on the W. side of Shen. R., on Opeckon 
Creek, near the head thereof: part of 5012 A. granted to 
Hite, Oct. 3, 1734. 

Mar. 23 : — Jost Hite sells to John Van Metre for £205 
475 A. on Opeckon Creek : part of the tract "on which Johnj-' 
Selboiir [?] lives." ^^^%^^ 

Mar. 25, 26: — Jost Hite, Gentleman, and Maryj^iis wife 
sell to Robert Dwarfe for £7 15s. 300 A. on the W. side of 
vSherrendo R., on a branch of the said river running into the 
N. Branch thereof at a place called the Long Meadow : part 
of 2160 A. granted to Hite, Oct. 3, 1734. 

Sept. 20, 21 :^2 — Jacob Stover sells to Peter Bowman for 
£30 5s. 400 A. on the W. side of Sherundo R. : part of 5000 
A. granted to Jacob Stover : likewise the part that the said 
Stover then lived on. — Witnesses, G. Lightfoot, Thomas 
Nicholls. 

Sept. 25, 26 : — Henry Sowter sells to Ludwig Stine for 
£25 5s. about 300 A. on the S. ( ?) side of Gerundo R.— This 
is likely the same tract that Sowter bought of Jacob Stover, 
Dec. 15, 1735, for £15 5s. If so, he sold at a gain of over 
65 per cent, in less than a year. 

1737. 
From Orange County Deed Books 1 and 2. 
Feb. 15, 16: — Jacob Funck sells to John Funck of Lan- 
caster Co., Pa., for £18 5s., 180 A. on the N. W. side of 

12. Hon. J. A. Waddell's statement, p. 28, Annals of Augusta, 
"The first allusion in the records of Orange to Valley people is 
under date of July 20, 17'36," is evidently a mistake; since all the 
entries thus far are earlier than that date. 



COUNTY RECORDS. 63 

Shell. R., the N. Branch thereof, near a place called Stony 
Lick: part of a tract of 2030 A. granted to Henry Willis, 
Aug. 20, 1734, and sold to Jacob Funk. — Witnesses, John 
Smith, John Hite. — This item may belong to the year 1736. 
In the record the date appears to be written 1734; but this 
is evidently not correct, since Jacob Funk did not buy the 
tract of 2030 A. from Willis till July 14, 15, 1735. 

Feb. 23, 24: — Ludwig Stein sells to Martin Coffman of 
Pa., for £200 5s., three tracts of land: 300 A. on the S. side 
of Shen. R. ; 217 A. on the N. side; 100 A. on the N. side 
of Gerundo at Elk Lick, part of 200 A. granted to Stone by 
Jacob Stover. 

Mar. 25, 26: — Jost and Mary Kite sell to Lewis Stussy ( ?) 
for £10 5s. 339 A. on the W. side of Shen. R., near the head 
of Crooked Run. 

May 25, 26: — William Russell, Gent., sells to Christian 
Bowman, Farmer, for £47 10s., 675 A. on the S. side of the 
N. River Sherundore, at the mouth of a run. 

Oct. 22 : — Peter Bowman sells to Christian Redlicksber^er 
for £30 5s. 400 A. on Shen. R. 

1738. 
From County Records of Orange and Augusta. 

Feb. 22, 23 : — William Russell sells to John Funks for 
£21 5s. 320 A. on the E. side of the N. River Shenandoare, 
adjoining Christian Bowman. — Orange County Deed Book 
No. 2, pp. 222-228 {O C D B 2—222-228. 

Mar. 20, 21 : — Jacob Stover sells to Christopher Franciski 
for £350 5s. 3000 A., with the mansion house, adjoining Peter 
Bowman on the river : part of 5000 A. patented to Jacob 
Stover, Dec. 15, \7?>Z.—0 C D B 2—229-232. 

Mar. 21 : — Jacob Stover and wife Margaret give bond to 
Christopher Franciski for £700.' The same year they give 
Franciski another bond for £1000. They mortgage 5000 A. 
on both sides of Shen. R.— C D B 2—233, 234. 



64 THE VAI.I.EY GERMANS. 

Mar. 22", 23 : — Ludwig Stein sells to Philip Long (who 
signs in German) for £100 5s. two tracts of land, 205 A. 
and 800 A., on Shen. R.- — Witnesses, John Newport, Chris- 
tian Kleman.— C D B 2—260. 

May 24, 25: — Jacob Funk sells to John Funk for £18 5s. 
180 A.—O C D B 2—343. 

Dec. 13: — Jacob Stover obtains a grant of 800 A. — 
Atignsta Co. Deed Book 4, pp. 58, 65, etc. — This land was on 
the S. Shenandoah, below Port Republic, and was at least in 
part on the S. side of the river, opposite the "Great Island." 
This island, containing about 60 A., was bought of the Fran- 
ciscos on Aug. 31, 1751, by Thomas Lewis. Two days 
earlier, Aug. 28, 1751, Lewis had bought of the Franciscos 
a tract of 470 A., on the S. side of the river, part of the 800 
A. tract granted to Stover in 1738.—^ C D B A — 58-62; etc. 

1739. 

Mar. 26: — Jost Hite, Robert McKay, William Duff, and 
Robert Green secure a grant of 7009 A. in the present county 
of Rockingham.—^ C D B 1—103-106. 

This was the year in which Peter Ruffner obtained, through 
his father-in-law Steinman, his large estate on the Hawks- 
bill. When he settled there in 1739 some of the other Ger- 
mans in the neighborhood were, the Stovers, Stricklers.. 
Rollers, Heistands, and Beidlers.^^ The Ruffner name occurs 
frequently in the Frederick County records. 

. 1740. 
July 23, 24: — Mathias Elser (Selser) sells to Jacob Neglee 
200 A. in the Massanutting tract.— ^ C D B 2—792-795. 

1741. 
Mar. 22: — Jacob Stover, Jr., with Henry Downs and Jacob 
Castle as sureties, gives bond and qualifies as administrator 
of the estate of Jacob Stover, dec'd.— C IV B 1—140. 

13. West Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. I, No. 2, pp. 31, 32. 



COUNTY RECORDS. 65 

1742. 
Oct. 20, 21 : — Jpst Hite sells to John Painter 189 A. on 
the N. side of Shen. R.—F C D B 2—324. 

1743. 
Mar. 1 : — Charles Baker/'* Planter, sells to Samuel Earle 
for £5 25 A. on the E. side of Crooked Run in Frederick 
County : land bought by Baker of John Branson ; by Bran- 
son of Jost Hite.— F C D B 1—42. 

1744. 
From Frederick County Deed Book No. 1. 
Jan. 15, 16: — John Funk, Sr., sells to Martin Funk^^ for 

14. Most of the well known Baker families of Frederick County 
are of German ancestry. Several generations ago the name was 
frequently written "Becker." 

15. Martin Funk was probablj^ the son of John Funk, Sr. ; and the 
latter was likely a brother to Jacob Funk, Sr. (See F C D B 1 and 
F C W B 1.) 

On November 14, 1906, the writer made what may perhaps be a 
discovery, in a small way, in the Mt. Hebron Cemetery at Win- 
chester. Upon previous visits he had had the grave of George 
Becker (July 17, 17f)5-May — , 1790), son of Henrich Becker, pointed 
out to him as the oldest marked grave in the cemetery; but upon 
the above date he found, three feet to the east of Becker's grave, an 
older one — that of Martin Funk. Funk's grave is marked by a low, 
thick, dark stone, sunk low into the turf; and far down in the thick 
grass is this inscription: 

Here 
Lays the body of 
Martin Funk 
Who ended his Pil- 
grim life Octo. 5 
1777 old [?] 54 y. 
This grave, therefore, is 13 years older than that of George Becker. 
If this Martin Funk was, as is likely, the one who bought the 170 
acres of land in January, 1744, he was at that time about 21 years 
old. The graves of Funk and Becker lie close to the entrance 
lodge, and are about 60 yards southwest of the ruin of the old 
Lutheran church and the tomb of Christian Streit, the first Lutheran 
minister born in America. 

—5 



66 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

£80 5s. 170 A. in Frederick County, "on the River," near or 
adjoining Jacob Funk and Christian Bowman : part of v320 
A. conveyed to John Funk by WilHam Russell. — Witnesses, 
David Vance, John Hite, Robert Warth (?). 

Apr. 5, 6: — Jost Hite sells to Joseph Vance for £5 5s. 
150 A. in Frederick Co., "on both sides of a meadow called 
the Long Meadow." 

Apr. 15: — Jacob Funk of Fred. Co. sells to William Tid- 
well for £20 5s. 100 A. on the N. side of Shen. R.— Wit- 
nesses, James Porteus, G. Jones, G. Johnstone. 

July 13, 14: — Jacob Funk sells to Joseph Helms for £30 
5s. 200 A. on the N. side of the N. River of Shenandoah: 
part of a greater tract patented to Jacob Funk. — Witnesses, 
Samuel Earle, John Newport, W. Russell. 

Aug. 10, 11: — Josiah Ballinger of Opeckon sells to James 
Wright 194 A.: obtained in grant by Ballinger, Sept. 12, 
i735. 

Aug. 30, 31 : — Giles Chapman sells to Ulrich Ruble for 
£10 7s. 2d. 150 A. near the head of Yorkshire-man's branch 
of Opeckon Creek. 

1745. 

June 18, 19: — John Richards sells to Benjamin Fry 500, A. 
on Cedar Creek.— F C D B 1—102. 

Aug. 5, 6 : — John Kountz of Fred. Co. sells to Lewis Ste- 
phens for £65 5s. 195 A., in Fred. Co., on the N. side of 
"Sedar Run." Kountz bought of John Branson, and the 
land was obtained in 1732 by Branson in a 1000 A. grant. — 
Witnesses, Thomas Rutherford, W. Russell, John Hardin. — 
F C D B 1—227. 

1746. 
From Augusta County Records. 

Apr. 10, 11:— Peter Ruffner of "Orange Co." sells to 
Christopher Comber for £40 5s. about 271 A. on the Hawks- 
bill : formerly belonging to Francis Thornton. — Witnesses, 



COUNTY RECORDS. 67 

John Newport, Richard Price, Isaac Strickler. The last 
signed in German. — In the four instruments made on this 
date by Ruffner to Comber and Daniel Stover, Ruffner's 
name is written "Peter Ruffnaugh" in the body of the papers; 
•but Ruffner, signing in German, spells his name as follows : 
Pcthcr Ruffner (twice); Pcthcr Riiffnerdt (twice). 

Apr. 10, 11 : — Peter Ruffner sells to Daniel Stover for £10 
5s. 196 A. on Sharando R., at the mouth of the Hawksbill 
Creek: part of 250 A. patented to John Landrum. — Wit- 
nesses, John Newport, Richard Price, Isaac Strickler. 

Apr. 14: — Peter Ruffenough, with Mathias Selzer and 
John Lionberger as sureties, qualifies as administrator of the 
estate of Abraham Strickler, dec'd.^*^ 

Apr. 19: — Inventory made of estate of Abraham Strickler, 
late dec'd, by appraisers : Jer. Sutton, Paul Long, Rudolph 
Maag (Mauck?) : valued at over £200. — The inventory was 
admitted to record June 18, 1746. * 

June 17, 18: — Hite, McKay & Green sell to William Leni- 
vcll for £62 10s. 1500 A. in Augusta Co. • 

June 17, 18: — Samuel Wilkins sells to Hite, McKay & 
Green for £126 13s. lid. 1264 A. on the W. side of the 
Blue Ridge, in the vicinity of Naked Creek. — This land seems 
to have been transferred on the same dates, and for the same 
considerations, by Hite, McKay & Green to Wilkins. 

June 18, 19: — Jost Hite and Robert Green sell to Robert 
McKay for £119 5s. 1190 A. on the W. side of the Blue 
Ridge. — The records of this period show numerous land sales 
by Hite and his partners. ___,-i-.:. 

Aug. 5, 6: — Thomas Lenivell (or Linwell) witnesses, w^ith 
Valentine Sevier, indentures of Jost Hite and Robert McKay 
(McCoy) to Robert Green. 

Aug. 14, 15: — William Lenivell sells to George Bowman 

16. It will be recalled that Abram Strickler was one of the original 
settlers at Massanutting, and one of the petitioners of 1733. 



^ 



68 THE VAI.I.EY GERMANS. 

for £100 5s. (Pa. money) 500 A. on "Lenivell Creek."'^— 
This was likely part of the 1500 A. tract that Lenivell bought 
of Hite & Co. in the preceding June, for £62 10s. He must 
have sold the 500 A. to Bowman at a good profit, unless the 
money of Pennsylvania was of comparatively little value. — 
Lenivell and his wife Elinor both made their marks. — This 
500 A. tract sold to Bowman touched a 500 A. tract sold a 
few days later to Joseph Bryan. Bowman's land probably 
lay about the head of Linville Creek, including the site of the 
later well known Bowman's Mill. 

Aug. 19, 20: — William Lenivell sells to Joseph Bryan for 
£12 5s. 500 A. on Linvells Creek. — Lenivell here appears to 
be selling land below cost. Twelve pounds and five shillings 
for Bryan's 500 A., as against £100 5s. for Bowman's 500 A., 
seems to indicate that there was a considerable difference in 
value between the money of Virginia and that of Pennsyl- 
vania. There may have been some difference in the two 
tracts of land, also; and Lenivell may have owed Bryan a 
debt that is. not mentioned in the land deed. 

Aug. 20, 20: — William Lenivell sells to Thomas Lenivell 
for £12 5s. 500 A. on Linvells Creek. — This appears to be 
another sale parallel to the one to Bryan. 

Nov. 13, 14: — Thomas Lenivell sells to Jacob Christman,^^ 
of Fred. Co., for £100 5s. 500 A. on or near Linville Creek.— 
This is a sale parallel to the one to George Bowman l)y Wil- 
liam Lenivell, Aug. 14, 15,. of the same year. Did Chrisman 
also make payment in Pennsylvania money? — Thomas Lin- 

17. This appears to be the first use of the name "Lenivell (Linville) 
Creek." Since William Lenivell boupfht this land in a larger tract 
only two months before, and since in that transaction no name is 
applied to the stream, it" is quite probable that the stream received 
its name at this time, and from William Lenivell. 

f 18. Christman was probably the son of Jacob Chrisman, Jost Kite's 
son-in-law; and the progenitor of the well known Rockingham 
family. The land he bought of Lenivell was likely near the present 
village of Chrisman, in West Rockingham. 



COUNTY RECORDS. 



69 



veil made his mark. His wife's name was Hannah, but she 
did not sign. 

1747. 
From the Records of Augusta and Frederick. 

Jan. 6: — Thomas Lenivell gives a mortgage to Morgan 
Bryan on 3 cows and a lot of smith's tools to secure a loan 
of £16.— A C D B 1—188, 189. 

May 4, 5 : — Morgan Bryan of Aug. Co. sells to Andrew 
Bowman, Jr., of Fred. Co., 200 A. : part of 400 A. granted 
to Bryan in 1735.— F C D B 1—301. 

Aug. 12, 13:— William Beverly sells to John Miller 210 A. 
in Beverly Manor. ^^ — Whether Miller was a German or not 
does not appear. He seems to have been living in Beverly 
Manor at the time of this purchase. — A C D B 1 — 332-335. 

Sept. 4, 5 : — John Millar and Hannah his wife (both mak- 
ing their marks) sell to Francis Hughs, of Lancaster Co., 
Pa., for £60 5s. 200 A. on the N. Shen. R., adjoining Thomas 
Moore. — Witnesses, Peter Schollj^*^ Matthew Skean, Thomas 
Milsap (mark).— /i C D B 2—11-15. 

Sept. 28, 29 : — James Woode of Fred. Co. sells to Ephraim 
Vause of Augusta for £30 5s. 245 A. on Goose Creek. — A C 
D B 1—455-457. 

Oct. 18, 19: — John Frewbaker [Frubaker, Bruhaker (?)] 
sells to Abraham Frewbaker for £50 5s. two tracts of land : 
300 A. on Shanando R., adjoining Jacob Nahale; 200 A. on 

19. The limits of Beverly Manor are not very clearly understood: 
possibly they were never very clearly defined.- John Lewis Peyton 
says that Rockingham County, or at least the Linville Creek section, 
was originally in Beverly Manor. — Peyton's History of Augusta, ■ 
p. 66. See Waddell's Annals of Augusta, p-. 29. 

20. Peter Scholl lived on Smith Creek, now in Rockingham County, 
and was a prominent figure in the early days. On Oct. 30, 1745, 
when the first magistrates for Augusta County were appointed, 
Scholl seems to have been the one German in the whole number — 
twenty-one. A man of the same name, probably the same man, was 
living in Kentucky in 1776, intimately associated with Daniel Boone. — 
Waddell's Annals of Augusta, pp. 47, 52. , 



70 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Shen. R. — Witnesses, Samuel Newman, William Scholl, Ma- 
thias Selzer, — The original papers were delivered from the 
clerk's office in May, 1762, to Jacob Burner. — A C D B 1 — 
422-426. 

Nov. 20 : — Henry Downs sells to Ludwick Francisco of 
Augusta 470 A. on the S. side of Shen. R.— ^ C D B \— 
453, 454. 

1748. 

From the Records of Augusta and Frederick. 

Feb. 18: — Daniel Holman and Peter Gartner, with Abra- 
ham Strickler and William Anderson, sureties, become guard- 
ians for Julia, George, and Elsie Brock, orphans of Rudolph 
Brock, dec'd.— ^ C W B 1—107. 

June 7, 8:— lost Dubs sells to Peter Tostee for £97 lis. 8d. 
125 A. in Fred. Co.— /^ C D B 1—410. 

July 28, 29 : — Jacob Dye and Mary his wife (both making 
their marks) sell to Ephraim Love,^^ late of Lane. Co., Pa., 
for £60 5s. 377 A. "on ye head Draughts of Muddy Creek 
under the North Mountain," adjoining Daniel Harrison. — 
Witnesses, Peter Scholl, William White, William Carroll 
(mark).— ^ C D B 2—15-19. 

Aug. 5, 6: — George Forbush (farmer) and Olive his wife 
(both making their marks) sell to John Miller (weaver) for 
£110 5s. (Pa. money) 400 A. "lying & being in the County 
of Augusta on the North branch of Sherrendo in the Gap of 
the Mountains," at or near the mouth of "beaver Dam run."^- 
— Witnesses, Peter Scholl, Samuel Newman, David Stuart. — 
A C D B 2—4-7. 

Aug. 16, 17: — Adam Miiller (signing in German) sells to 

21. Ephraim Love lived in what is now Rockingham County. He 
was a captain in the French and Indian War, as is shown by tlie 
military schedule of 1758, in the 7th volume of Hening's Statutes. 
Peter Scholl, the first witness to this sale, had been appointed a 
captain of militia in 1742. 

22. This tract was apparently in Brock's Gap, in northwestern 
^Rockingham. 



COUNTY RECORDS. '^^ 

Jacob Miller for £20 5s. 200 A. on Shen. R.— Witnesses, 
William Burk, John Carmichell, Henry Downs. — The orig- 
inal papers were delivered from the clerk's office to Henry 
Miller, July 24, 1759.—^ C D B 2— 1-3.— Adam Miiller was 
doubtless the pioneer of the upper Valley, who was at this 
time living near the site of Elkton. 

Aug. 18, 19: — Andrew and Mary Mitchell (both marking) 
sell to James Miller for £46 5s. 112 A. in Beverly Manor. — 
A C D B 2—60-63. 

Aug. 19, 20: — David Stuart sells to James Miller 57 A. in 
Beverly Manor, adjoining John Miller. — A C D B 2 — 70-73. 

Sept. 6: — Morgan Bryan sells to Samuel Strode 100 A. on 
Opeckon Creek: part of 450 A. granted to Bryan Nov. 12, 
\73S.—F C D B 1—423. 

1749. 
From the Records of Augusta and Frederick. 

Jan. 26 : — John Hockman's will written for him in Ger- 
man, he making his mark: his wife Barbara to have the 
whole estate. — Witnesses, Henry Pfifer, Henry Gnochnaur, 
Christian Harnish, Ulrich Hochman (mark). — A C W B 
1—95. 

Feb. 15: — Daniel Stover, with Abraham Strickler and 
George Leith sureties, appointed guardian for John, Mary, 
and James, orphans of John Campbell, dec'd. — A C W B \ 
—106. 

Feb. 27, 28 : — Ephraim Vause sells to Joseph Love for £70 
5s. 200 A. on Goose Creek, at or near the mouth of a large 
run, near to Wm. Bewes.— ^ C D B 2—407-409. 

Feb. 27, 28: — Ephraim Vause sells to William McCurry 
248 A. on the S. Branch of "Roanoke."—^ C D B 2— 
502-505. 

Feb. 27, 28 : — Samuel Wilkins sells to Daniel Harrison for 
£15 5s. 100 A. near the head of Cooks Creek.— ^ C D B 2— 
581-584. 



72 THE VAI^LEY GERMANS. 

Feb. 27, 28: — Samuel Wilkins sells to Alexander Herrin 
for £80 5s. 365 A. on Cooks Creek, adjoining the land of 
Daniel Harris [on]. — Witnesses, Daniel Harrison, William 
Lusk, Silas Hart.— ^ C D B 2—588-591. 

May 1, 2: — Lewis Stephens sells to John Nisewanger 355 
A. on Long Meadow, Fred. Co., part of 3395 A. granted to 
Jost Hite, Oct. 3, 1734: sold by Hite to Peter Nuttenhouse, 
and by N. to Lewis Stephens. — F C D B 2 — 3. 

June 16: — Inventory made by Daniel Stover, Jacob Burner, 
and John Holdman of the estate of Martin Kauffman, dec'd : 
total amount of the invoice, £236 7s. 9(\.—A C W B 1—195- 
197. — Kauffmann's will is recorded in the same book, p. 125. 

Aug. 16: — George Bowman (mark) deeds for life use to 
his mother; Ann Bowman, widow of Cornelius Bowman, a 
negro man Harry, 2 cows, 2 yearling heifers, 1 horse, 1 mare, 
with some household goods. — Witnesses, Martin Shoemaker 
(mark), William Rogers.—^ C D B 3—60. 

Sept. 22, 23: — Heinrich Ayler (signing in German) and 
Christopher Danner (mark), of Culpeper Co., sell to Jacob 
Harman of Aug. for £40 5s. 400 A. of land. — Witnesses, 
Isaac Smith, Casper Vought, Jacob Harman, Jr. (mark).— - 
^CZ) 5 2— 312-315. 

Oct. 3, 4: — Yost Heid sells to George Bowman of Fred 
Co. for £100 5s. 545 A. on Lenivells Creek. — Witnesses, G. 
Jones,23 John Hite, James Porteus.— .4 C D B 2—368-371. 

Oct. 3, 4:— Yost Heid sells to Paul Fi'oman for £100 5s. 
500 A. on or near Lenivells Creek.— ^ C D B 2—371-374. 

Nov. 13, 14:— Yost Hite sells to John Painter for £24 5s. 

23. Gabriel Jones was probably the most famous lawyer of his day 
in the Valley, if not in Virginia. He lived first in Frederick County; 
later, in Augusta. He was a member of the House of Burgesses 
from both counties, and was prominent in the public affairs of a 
large section. He died in 1806 on his farm near Port Republic, — 
land bought in 1751 of Christopher Francisco: part of Jacob Stover's 
upper grant of 5000 acres. — Waddell's Annals of Augusta, pp. 81-84. 



COUNTY RECORDS. 1^3 

125 A. ill Fred. Co., adjoining or near Jo'nathan Seaman. — 
Witnesses, Jasper Measener, John Miller, Gabriel Jones. — 
F C D B 2—38. 

Nov. 26, 27 : — Christopher Franciscus, Jr., sells to Jacob 
and Valentine Pence for £28 5s. (Pa. money) 210 A. on 
Cub Run, adjoining Nicholas Null. — Witnesses, Nicholas 
Noll, Ch. Franciscus, Sr,, Stofel Francisco : all making their 
marks.— /^ C D B 2—725-728. 

1750, 

From the Records of Augusta and Frederick. 

Feb. 6, 7: — Christopher Franciscus, Sr., of Lane. Co., Pa., 
and Anna Margaret his wife (both making their marks) sell 
to Jacob Thomas of Aug. Co., for £25 5s., 185 A. on "Shan- 
nadore river and Cubrun" : part of Francisco's tract of 3000 
A. — Witnesses, Nicholas Noll (mark) and Christofer Frant- 
ziscus Dcr Yjingr.—A C D B 2— 715-718.— The original 
papers were delivered from the clerk's office to Jacob Miller, 
February, 1753. 

Feb. 24 : — Joseph Langdon, John Cook, and Joseph Coke- 
nour make an inventory of the estate of Christian Miller, 
dec'd.— ^ C W B 1—227. 

Feb. 26: — Jacob Nicholas and Valentine Pence qualify as 
executors of the will of Mat Shaup,^"* dec'd. — The following 
day Jacob Nicholas gives bond, with Valentine Pence and 
Jacob Miller sureties, as executor of the will of John Law- 
rence, dec'd.— ^ C W B 1—312, 313. 

Feb. 27 : — Valentine Pence, with Wm. Williams and Jacob 
Nicholas sureties, gives bond as executor of the will of Jacob 
Pence, dec'd.— ^ C W B 1—305. 

July 9, 10: — Thomas Branson of Fred. Co. sells to John 

24. Leonhard Sclmell, tlie Moravian, enters in his diary a notice 
of his preaching at the house of Matthias Schaub on Sunday, Dec. 3, 
1749. Schaub lived near Elkton, and evidently died in a month or 
two after Schncll's visit. The present form of the name is likely 
Shope or Shoop. 



74 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Painter for £100 5s. 162j^ A., part of 1370 A. patented to 
Branson, Oct. 3, 1734.— F C D B 2—125. 

Aug. 9, 10: — John Naglee and Jacob Naglee, executors for 
Jacob Niiglee, dec'd, late of Philadelphia, sell to Ludo- 
wick Hounsdone for £96 5s. (Pa. money) 200 A. in "Orange 
Co.," part of the tract of land called the Massanutting tract, 
on the River. — Jacob Neglee, dec'd, had bought the land of 
Mathias Elser (Selser?), July 23, 24, 1740.— Witnesses 
(Aug., 1750), Samuel Wilkins, Samuel Bahm, John Wilkins, 
John Reyley, Jacob Burner, Jacob Strickler.-^ — The original 
papers were delivered to Jacob Burner, Aug. 17, 1756. — 
A C D B 2—792-795. 

Aug. 20: — William Burk sells to Nicholas Null of Lane. 
Co., Pa., for £58 5s. 400 A. on the N. side of the S. Shen. R., 
between the said river and Peaked Mt., at Boons Run. — Wit- 
nesses, Andrew Scott, Wm. Williams, Jacob Nichols, John 
McGuiness.— ^ C D B 2—796. 

Aug. 28, 29 : — Hans Baumgartner sells to Patrick Frazier 
for £52 5s. 400 A. on the head spring of "Stony Lick 
Branches" : the said land having been granted to Bumgard- 
ner, Sept. 25, 1746.-°-/^ C D B 2—838. 

Dec. 30, 31 : — Samuel Wilkins sells to Alexander Herring 
for £15 5s. 133 A. "upon a branch of the North River of 
Shanando called Cooks Creek." — Witnesses, Morgan Bryan, 
Robert Rollstone, John Wilkins.—.^ C D B 3—116-120. 

25. The records state that, at the proving of these indentures in 
open court, Aug. 28, 1750, Samuel and John Wilkins made oath, and 
Jacob Strickler "afifirmed." This circumstance is explained by the 
fact that Strickler was a Mennonite — a Mennonite preacher: many 

' of the early settlers in the Page valley were Mennonites: they and 
the Dunkers, as well as some other relig'ous bodies, avoid the formal 
taking of oaths. Jacob Strickler was likely a son of Abram Strickler, 
one of the first Massanutten settlers. 

26. This land of Bumgardner's was probably on the north side of 
the Shenandoah River, a few miles below Port Republic, opposite 
the "Great Island"; since he owned land there at some time prior 
to 1751. 



/ 



COUNTY RECORDS. 76 

1751. 

From the Records of Augusta County. 

Jan. 28: — Nicholas Null (mark) of Lane. Co., Pa., sells 
to Jacob Miller for £80 5s. 400 A. "on the North Side of the 
South River of Shanadoe between the sd River and the 
peaked Mountain," on or near Boones Run. — Witnesses, 
Jacob Nicholas, Valentine Pence, Henry Dooley. — This ap- 
pears to be the tract that Null bought of Wm. Burk the pre- 
ceding August. 

Mar. 13. — John Dabkin, Nicholas Seeharn, David Magit, 
and George Scheniman make an inventory of the estate of 
Michael Rinehart,^'^ dec'd : total value of the invoice, £80 3s. 

Mar. 22 : — John Bumgarncr makes his will, witnessed by 
Benjamin Barger, Ch. Buck, and George Shunamen. Bum- 
gardner mentions his sons, John and Christian ; his daughters 
Mary, Elizabeth, and Modley; his grandson, Jacob Burner; 
and names his two friends, Mathias Suleer (Shuler?) and 
Jacob Burner, for his executors. 

Oct. 4, 5 :— Wm. Williams sells to Henry Pirkey 550 A. 
adjoining Jacob Strover's 5000 A. — Witnesses, Jacob Nicho- 
las, Filty Pence. 

Nov. 24, 25 : — John Peter Salling^s ^^^^ i^jg ^^jf^ Ann sell 
land to Henry Fuller on the E. side of the N. Branch of 
James R. 

Dec. 19:— John Jacob Rothgab (of the Page Valley) 
makes his will, witnessed by John Spitler, John Taylor, and 
Martin Forclight. He disposes of 400 A. of land, on or near 
the S. Shen. R. ; he mentions his sons, John George and Peter ; 
his daughters, Elizabeth, Anna, Barbara, and Catherine; and 
his wife Anna. The will was written in "High Dutch"; was 
translated by How Dickins, upon oath; and was proved by 

27. Michael Rinehart was one of the early settlers at Massanutting, 
and one of the petitioners of 1733. 

28. Sailing was a noted German explorer, going frequently in com- 
pany with Thomas Marlin. — Wither's Chronicles, pp. 48, 66. 



Y6 TH^ VAivi^EY ge:rmans. 

the oath of John Taylor. The widow, Anna Rothgab, and 
Peter Ruffner quahfied as executors, although the testator 
had "prayed" for Paul Lung and Anna Rothgab in that ca- 
pacity. The latter is called Anna Hollenback in the bond. 

1752. 
From the Records of Augusta County. 

Feb. 4 : — Christian Funkhousa and Christianah his wife 
and Henry Brock and Mary his wife sell to Jacob Bare for 
£60 400 A. in Aug. Co., "on ye south fork of the North River 
of Shanando above the gap in ye mountain" (likely Brock's 
Gap). — The Funkhousas and Brocks all make thejr marks. — 
The property sold is warranted specially against John P. 
Brock and his heirs. — Witnesses, Peter Scholl, Samuel New- 
man, John Bare. 

May 15, 16: — Andrew Fought, yeoman, sells to Casper 
Fought for £20 5s. 112 A., the same that was deeded to An- 
drew Fought, June 1, 1750. — Witnesses, Robert Turk, Rob- 
ert Mehan. 

May 19, 20: — Samuel Wilkins sells to Edward and Robert 
Shankland 400 A., whereon the said Wilkins lately dwelt: 
part of the 1265 A. on Cook's Creek, sold to Wilkins by Mc- 
Kay ct al. — Witnesses, Peter Scholl, William Brown, An- 
drew Erwin. 

June 17: — Jacob Miller sells to Nicholas Null for £60 5s. 
400 A. on the N. side of the S. Shen. R., between the said 
river and Peaked Mt., on Boones Run. — This appears to be 
the same tract that Null sold to Miller for £80, Jan. 28, 1751, 
and that Null had bought of Wm. Burk for £58, Aug. 2U, 
1750. 

Aug. 14, 15: — Henry Purkey sells to Abraham Estes for 
£130 5s. 110 A. on the S. side of Shen. R., adjoining George 
Boon and James Barton. — Witnesses, Nicholas Trout, Nich- 
olas Null. 

Nov. 14, 15: — Timothy Crosthwait sells to George Zim- 



COUNTY RECORDS. 77 

merman for £16 5s. 400 A. on the branches of Cub Run. — 
Original papers cleHvered to G. Zimmerman, June, 1754. 

1753. 

Feb. 22:— Peter Reed sells to Peter Haas for £200 (Pa. 
money) 680 A. (Lot. No. 1.) on the S. Fork of the Wappa- 
como, or Great S. Branch of the Potomack. — Witnesses, 
Hendrick Cartright, Peter Thorn, Tobias Decker. — 
AC D B 5—134. 

1754. 

From the Records of Augusta and Frederick. 

Jan. 12: — Peter Shaver sells to John Miller for £10 5s. 
37 A. on the S. W. side of "the New river on the head of 
Mill Creek." — Shaver had apparently bought this tract Aug. 
22, 1753.—^ C D B 6—107. 

Jan. 14, 15: — Garrett Zinn sells to Emanuel . Eckerling^^ 
125 A. on the W. side of Woods River.— ^ C D B 6--112. 

July 29: — Timothy Crosthwait sells to Jeremiah Early of 
Culpeper for £25 400 A. on Elk Run, a branch of Shen. R. — 
Witnesses, Francis Kirtley, Jeremiah Early, John Early, 
Thomas Kirtley, Thomas Stanton.—^ C D B 6— 329.— This 
Elk Run is likely the one that enters the river near Elkton, 
in Rockingham County ; although there is also an Elk Run in 
Augusta County. 

Sept. 8, 9 : — Jonah Friend sells to Simeon Rice for £100 5s. 
66^ A. in Fred. Co., on the S. side of the Potomac: part of 
300 A. granted to Israel Friend, Oct. 3, 1734: the part de- 
vised by will to Jonah Friend. — F C D B 3 — 372. 

29. It is probable that EckerlinR, possibly Peter Shaver and John 
Miller also, belonged to the community of Ephrata Brethren on New 
River. The Ephrata Brethren were a mystical sect, an early offshoot 
of the Dunkers, named from the central place of their activity in 
Pennsylvania.— See Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II; Brum- 
baugh's History of the Brethren; etc. 



78 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

1755. 

May 5, 6: — Wilhelm Hubers (Huber, Hoover) and Mar- 
garet his wife sell to Samuel Fry for £36 5s. 168 A. on the N. 
side of the N. River of Shen., adjoining the land of Charles 
Huddle. — Huber signs in German. — F C D B 3 — 471. 

Dec. 29, 30 : — Christian Funkhouser and Christinah his 
wife sell to Henry Mire (Meyer?) for £34 200 A. on Hol- 
mans Creek^^ "a Branch of the North River of Shanando" — 
the said 200 A. being part of 444 A. granted by Fairfax to Ch. 
Funkhouser, Mar. 2, 1752. — Witnesses, Abram Denton, Ca- 
leb Odell.— F C D B 4—83. 

In order to carry the foregoing studies into a later period, 
as well as for' the sake of preserving some facts that are more 
or less interesting in themselves, a few more abstracts from 
the public records are presented below. They are taken 
chiefly from the deed books of Frederick County, covering the 
period from 1760 to 1780; the few from the records of Au- 
gusta and Shenandoah are separately indicated. 

1760. 

May 3 : — Lawrence Snapp buys of Lewis Stephens for £10 
three lots: Lot No. 16, containing 3/2 A.; lots No. 68 and No. 
97, of 5 A. each ; all in the town of Stephensburgh. Lot 16 
was on Fairfax and German Sts. ; lot 68 was on Squirrel Lane ; 
lot 97 was on Rabbit Lane. All were a part of a 424 A. tract 
obtained by Lewis Stephens from Peter Stephens, May 2, 3, 
1755 ; the latter secured the land in a tract of 674 A. patented 
to him Oct. 3, 1734. 

1761. 

Apr. 24 : — Frederick Conrod buys of Theobald and Bar- 
bara Posing (Boszing) for £23 Lot. No 14 04 A.), on the 

30. Holmans Creek is in the southwestern part of Shenandoah 
County, and flows into the North Shenandoah River near Quicks- 
burg. 



COUNTY RECORDS. T9 

"run that Meanders through Winchester town joining the 
said Town in Frederick County aforesaid." — Witnesses, Wil- 
Ham Green, Wilhehn Monger ( ?) Henrick Bender. The 
last two and the Posings signed in German. 

Dec. 26: — Charles Moyer buys of Lewis Stephens for £10 
Lots No. 5 (>4 A.), No. 29 and No. 93 (each of 5 A.), in the 
town of Stephensburgh. 

1762. 

Jan. 20 : — Frederick Conrod, tanner, of Fred. Co., for £8 
paid to Patrick Hagan, farmer, receives as tanner apprentice 
Marmaduke Hagan, aged 11 7-12 years, till he shall he 21 
years old ; also, for another £8, Conrod and wife get Hagan's 
daughter Hannah, aged nearly 13, till she shall be 18. Han- 
nah is to be taught to spin, sew, and do household work; to 
read the Old an/1 New Testaments ; etc. — Witnesses, Wm. 
Green, Peter Helphenstein. The latter and Conrad signed in 
German. 

Apr. 26: — Peter Hoffman buys of Jacob and Barbara Mil- 
ler for 20s. Lot No. 85 (>4 A.) on King St. in Woodstock; 
the said Hoffman to erect a house with stone or brick chim- 
ney on or before May 1, 1763, and pay a yearly ground rent 
of 5s. 

July 5: — John Lance (Lantz) buys of Alex. Boyd for 
£150 5s. two lots in Winchester. 

July 26: — Philip Hoofman buys several lots of Peter 
Stover in Strasburg. 

Sept. 8: — Henry Rinker and wife Mary sell to Casper 
Rinker for £50 5s. Lot No. 104 (>^ A.) in Winchester. 

Nov. 3 : — Christly Bumbgardner buys of Peter Stover and 
Frainey his wife a lot in Strasburg. 

1763. 

June 7 : — Nicholas Pittman buys of Lewis Stephens Lots 
No. 2, No. 32, No. 100 in Stephensburgh. 



80 THE VAIJ.KY GERMANS. 

1764. 

May 4, 5 : — David Halsinger buys of Lewis Stephens for 
£10 5s. 100 A., part of 1384 A. granted by Fairfax to Ste- 
phens Aug. 5, 1750. 

1765. 

Sept. 30, Oct. 1 : — Adam Kern buys of Robert Willson for 
£7 5s. 33^ A. on Hoggs (Hoge's) Run, near the site of the 
present Kernstown. — Adam Kern appears to have been the 
first of the name to locate in the vicinity; but the next year 
Michael Kern bought land on Hoge's Run, and Henry Kern 
(Oct. 3, 1766) bought land of Lawrence Stephens on Ger- 
man St. in Stephensburg. On June 29, 1767, John Kern 
bought land of Thomas and Elizabeth Shepherd, probably at 
Shepherdstown. — I have recently been informed (May 10, 
1907) that the Kerns are of Dutch descent. 

1768. 

July 11, 12: — John Click buys of Richard and Rebecca 
Campbell for £65 5s. 150 A. 'on the waters of the North 
River of Shenondoah' — the same that Campbell bought of 
George Nicholas : part of 402 A. granted to Nicholas by 
Fairfax. — Witnesses, John Skeen, Ingabo. Skeen, James 
Moore. 

1769. 

Apr. 3 : — Henry Kagay buys of Samuel and Catherine 
Lusk for £350 5s. 404 A. "lying on Smith's Creek," adjoin- 
ing Samuel Newman's land. — This tract is in Shenandoah 
County, near New Market. Kagay had come to Page county 
from Pennsylvania in 1768. 

1772. 

May 18, 19:— Henry Wetzell sells to Philip Blay for £70 
5s. 313 A. on Cedar Creek in Dunmore C0.7 — Shcn. Co. Deed 
Book A, p. 10. 



COUNTY RECORDS. 81 

Nov. 24: — Jacob Borden and Mary his wife, of Fred. Co., 
sell to George Adam T3o\vinaii of Lane. Co., Pa., for £50 5s. 
180 A. in Shen. Co. adjoining Chas. Huddle and John Bough- 
man. — Borden's name was written partly in German. — 
S C D 5-/^—148. 

1774. 

May 4, 5 : — Philip Huver buys of Ebenezer Parkins for 
£74 523^ A. near Kernstown, on both sides of "the great 
Waggon Road that Leaves from Winchester to Stephens- 
burgh." 

1777. 

Feb. 24, 25 : — Nicholas and Catherine Pittman sell to John 
Hockman for £150 5s. 100 A. on the North River of Shenan- 
doah : land conveyed to Pittman by Christian Whitmore. — 
S C D B-B— 456. 

1778. 

Feb. 24 : — Anthony Kline buys of Lewis and Mary Ste- 
phens for £50 Lot No. 55 (Yz A.) in Stephensburg, and two 
5 A. lots joining the said town. — In May of 1779 Kline 
bought more land of Stephens. On Sept. 7, 1779, Adam 
Kline bought of George Wright 400 A. on a branch of 
Opeckon Creek. 

1780. 

June 5, 6: — Casper Rinker buys of John Stonebridge for 
£120 5s. 224 T^ A. on both sides of Back Creek on Raccoon 
Run, adjoining James Odall and John McCoole. 

1782. 

Apr. 5 : — Lawrence Snapp makes his will : signs in Ger- 
man.— 5" C IV B-A—42Ci. 

1790. 
Apr. 1 -.—Francis Huff buys of Alex. St. Clair and Jane 

- 6 



82 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

his wife for £25 Lot No. 19 (% A.) in Staunton.—^ C D 
B 1 A— 9. 

July 5 : — Jacob Swoope made attorney of Kuhn and Ris- 
berg of Phil'a to sell a tract of land in Staunton. — A C D B 
1 A—\S. 

Sept. 1 : — Balser Bumgarner of Aug, Co. buys of Francis 
Ervvin, Atty. for Alex. Curry of the District of Kentucky, 
for £40 two tracts of land in Aug. Co. : one of 40 A., the 
other of 130 A. : both on or near a branch of Naked Creek. 



CHAPTER VI. 



TOWNS AND TOWN FOUNDERS. 



Up to the beginning of the French and Indian War the set- 
tlement and development of the Shenandoah Valley went 
steadily and, for the most part, peacefully on; for the Shaw- 
nees and other tribes of Indians claiming possessions in the 
Valley appear to have made no serious trouble prior tcy this 
period.^ The reputation for benevolence, possessed by Penn's 
colony, seems to have followed the Germans and Scotch- 
Irish who came to Virginia, and to have served them well 
as a protecting influence for nearly a generation. 

The earliest settlements of the German pioneers followed, 
as we have seen, the main branch of the Shenandoah River — 
that is, the south branch — up through the Page valley : the 
Massanutting country. But only a little later the tide of im- 
migration came up the western side of the Massanutteri moun- 
tain, along the north branch of the Shenandoah, also. It 
appears, however, that some of the earliest settlers along the 
river on that side were of English or Irish stock. Among the 
first were Bemjamin Allen, Riley Moore, and William White, 
who came from Maryland in 1734 and located on some of the 
magnificent lands near the present town of Mt. Jackson.'' 
The Germans concentrated on lines a little further west, along 
what after awhile came to be the "Middle Road," through 
Timberville, Forestville, Rinkerton, Hamburg, and Lantz's 
Mill'; and the "Back Road'," through Moore's Store, Conic- 
ville, and Columbia Furnace. The main line of travel up and 
down the Valley was doubtless nearer the river, following, for 
tlie most part, what had been for centuries a famous Indian 
trail. This highway was evidently the chief thoroughfare for 

1. Kercheval's History of the Valley, p. 49. 

2. Idem, p. 45; Foote's Sketches, p. 15. 



84 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

travelers at an early period. The Moravian missionaries 
refer to it in 1753 as the "great road";^ and it doubtless 
followed closely the line of the present Valley Turnpike from 
Winchester, through Woodstock, Mt. Jackson, New Market, 
and Harrisonburg, to Staunton. 

But other roads were being opened and put in order at 
an early period, as the records and statutes show ; and ferries 
were being established for transportation across the rivers. 
One of the earliest of these was near the present town of 
Front Royal, in Warren County, provided for by the Vir- 
ginia General Assembly in August, 1736. It was to be "on 
Sherrendo river, from the land of William Russel, next above 
the mouth of Happy's creek, in the county of Orange, across 
into the fork, the price for a man three pence, and for an horse 
three pence; on or across the main river, the same".'* 

For centuries the only crossing place along the Potomac 
had been the old Packhorse Ford, a mile below Shepherds- 
town; but in due time ferries were established. In May, 
1755, Thomas Swearingen was authorized to conduct a ferry 
over the Potomac, somewhere in Frederick County.^ In 1761 
Robert Harper was given permission to establish what after- 
wards became the famous "Harper's Ferry." In 1765 a ferry 
was established over the Potomac from the land of Thomas 
Shepherd, in the town of Mecklenburg (Shepherdstown), to 
Maryland." Other ferries in the same vicinity were estab- 
lished before the close of the Revolution. 

In these various enterprises, looking towards the public 
welfare and convenience, the Germans took an active part. 
Their lack of familiarity with the English language and man- 
ners was against them for many years; but they went ahead, 
with a persistent energy and willingness, in the things they 

3. Vir^rinia Magazine, Vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 143, 146. 

4. Hening's Statutes, Vol. IV, p. 531. 

5. Idem, Vol. VI, p. 494. 

6. Idem, Vol. VIII, pp. 446, 447. 



TOWN FOUNDERS. 85 

knew. Oil the petitions for roads and the establishment of 
courts of justice, the German names appear in fair proportion. 
Ill the year 1745, Peter Mauk, a German, made the first ap- 
plication at Winchester for naturalization papers.^ This was 
three or four years after Adam Miller, the pioneer of Augusta, 
had obtained his. 

In no phase of the early development of the country were 
the Germans more helpful and prominent than in the found- 
ing and building up of the towns. Following is a brief chrono- 
logical account of those towns in the Valley, in the founding 
and legal establishment of which the Germans took a leading 
or important part. 

Staunton. — As early as 1748 an Act of Assembly was 
passed for the establishing of a town in Augusta, and for 
holding annual fairs therein; but this Act was for some rea- 
son repealed in 1752 by proclamation.^ In November, 1761, 
however, Staunton was permanently established by law.® The 
Scotch-Irish were of course the leaders in Staunton from 
the beginning, as they are at the present time; but it is a 
rather significant fact that a number of Germans have been 
found among the enterprising and influential citizens of the 
town from very early times. When the place was incorporated 
by an Act of Assembly of December 23, 1801, and the voters 
met shortly afterwards to elect their town officers, Jacob 
Swoope, a German, was chosen as the first mayor; and on 
the first executive board of twelve men were at leaat two other 
Germans: Michael,_G_arbei-, alderman; and Michael Harman,"^ 
councilman. Jacob Lease, alderman, was likely another Ger- 
man. ^'^ These facts, as well as others that might be given, 
are rather eloquent in their testimony for both the Germans 
and Scotch-Irish, as regards their capacity for mutual friend- 
ship and fraternal cooperation. 

7. Norris' History of the Lower Valley, p. 84. 

8. HeniiiR's Statutes, Vol. VI, p. 215. 

9. Idem, Vol. VII, p. 473. 

10. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, p. 376. 



86 • the: VALI^EY GERMANS. 

Winchester. — This town was made up in the early times 
chiefly of Germans and Irish, as Kercheval tells us, together 
with a few English and Scotch. Tradition assigns the place 
two houses in 1738. It was legally established as a town, 
with provision for the inevitable annual fairs, in February of 
1752; and was incorporated in October, 1779.^^ James 
Woode laid out the town in 1752: twenty-six half-acre lots 
about the court house. To these were soon added 54 other 
lots of the same size. The village, called Fredericktown and 
"Old Town" at first, evidently grew with devouring rapidity. 
In September, 1758, the boundaries were again enlarged, and 
trustees for it and the new town of Stephensburg were ap- 
pointed, as follows : Lord Fairfax, Thomas Bryan Martin, 
James Wood, Lewis Stephens, Gabriel Jones, John Hite, 
John Dooe, Isaac Parkins, Robert Rutherford, Philip Boush.^- 
The next year the granted extension was made, as shown by a 
deed of September 3, 1759, from James Wood to Henry 
Rinker, part of which is herewith given : 

Whereas by an act of General Assembly made at the Capitol in 
the City of Williamsburgh in the said 32d year of his said Majesty's 
Reign Instituted an act for erecting a town on the land of Lewis 
Stephens and for Inlarging the Town of Winchester etc. among 
other things it is Enacted that one Hundred and six Acres of land 
Belonging to the said James [Wood] Contiguous to the said town 
of Winchester Surveyed and laid off in lots with convenient streets 
be added and made Part of the said Town and that the Freeholders 
and Inhabitants of the said Town of Winchester now enjoy. 13 

It appears that the same year (1759) 173 lots were added 
to the growing town by Lord Fairfax.^^ 

Stephensburg. — The place first known as Stephensburg, 
later as New Town, and at present as Stephens City, was estab- 
lished by law in September, 1758. It was laid out on the 
land of the German, Lewis Stephens, and was settled almost 

11. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VI, p. 268; Vol. X, pp. 172, 173, 176. 

12. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VII, p. 236. 

13. Fred. Co. Deed Book 5, p. 256. 

14. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VII, p. 315. 



TOWN FOUNDERS. 87 

exclusively by people of the same nationality.^^ The original 
founder of the town was Peter Stephens, father of Lewis, 
who came to Virginia in 1732 with Jost Hite. At the time of 
the legal establishment of Stephensburg (1758), the same 
trustees were appointed for both it and Winchester, as noted 
above ; and, among the ten men, at least three, Lewis Stephens, 
John Hite, and Philip Boush, were Germans. The following 
abstract from the Frederick County records relates to the 
early days of Stephensburg, and may be of interest in this 
connection. 

May 3, 1760, Nicholas Pittman^'' bought of Lewis and 
Mary Stephens for ten pounds three lots in the town of Ste- 
phensburg: Lot No. 1, of a half-acre, on German Street; 
Lot No. 85, of five acres; and Lot No. 141, of six acres. The 
three lots were part of a tract of 424 acres bought by Lewis 
Stephens of Peter Stephens, May 2, 3, 1755; the said 424 
acres being part of a larger tract of 674 acres granted to 
Peter Stephens, October 3, 1734. 

One of the present industries of Stephens City is the man- 
ufacture of lime. The farming lands immediately surround-- 
ing the town are some of the best in the Valley. 

Strasburg. — This town w^as first called Stauffcrstadt, after 
its founder, Peter Stover; but when, in November, 1761, it 
was estaljlished by law. Stover had it called Strasburg, after 

15. Howe's Antiquities, p. 272; Kercheval's History of the Valley, 
p. 179. 

16. Nicholas Pittman was a man of prominence in his day, and is 
the ancestor of one of the best known Valley families. He came 
over from Bingen on the Rhine about the year 1740, with some of 
the Bakers and Conrads of Winchester. His son, Lawfeuce Pittman, 
built in the year 1802 the old brick mansion at Red Banl<~s, beside 
the North Shenandoah River and the Valley Turnpike, about four 
miles below Mt. Jackson, Shenandoah County. In the days of staging 
through the Valley, Red Banks was one of the famous stopping 
places. — For most of the facts presented in this note the writer is 
indebted to the kindness of Miss Mary C. Pittman, of Fauquier 
County, Va. 



oo '--THE VAIvLEY GERMANS. 

his birthplace in the Fatherland. The ten trustees appointed 
for the town were the following gentlemen : William Miller, 
Matthew Harrison, Jacob Bowman, Valentine Smith, Charles 
Buck, Peter Stover, Isaac Hite, Leonard Baltice, John Funk, 
and Philip Huffman. In the Act, which also provided for the 
establishment of Staunton and New London, the following 
statement was made : "It shall not be lawful for any person 
whatsoever to erect or build, or cause to be erected or built, 
in either of the said iowns, any wooden chimnies." All such 
already built were to be pulled down by the first of the follow- 
ing August. ^"^ 

Woodstock. — This town was established on the land of 
Jacob Miller, and was first called after him, Mucllerstadt. Of 
all the towns in the Valley, it was probably the most carefully 
and extensively laid out. Miller had come into the country 
sometime prior to the year 1752, and had settled near Narrow 
Passage, a few miles above the site of the town. He bought 
several large tracts of land, until finally he owned about 
2000 acres. In 1761 he laid out upon a larger scale the village 
that likely was already called after him ; and in March of that 
year the Virginia Assembly passed the Act of which the fol- 
lowing is a part: 

Jacob Miller, of the county of Frederick, hath laid off twelve 
hundred acres into streets and lots, 96 acres of which are divided 
into lots of half an acre each, and the residue into streets and lots 
of five acres, each, and (that) several persons are now settled there, 
and many others would soon purchase and reside there if the same 
was by law erected into a town: Be it therefore * * * & shall 
be called * * * Woodstock.is 

The following gentlemen were appointed directors and 
trustees : Cornelius Riddel, John Skeen,, Burr Harrison, Mat- 
thew Harrison, Joseph Langdon, Moses Striker, Adam 
Yeaker, Jacob Miller, and Peter Hainger. 

17. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VII, pp. 473-475. 

18. Idem, pp. 406, 407; W. Va. Historical Magazine, Vol. 2, No. 2, 
pp. 39, 40. 



TOWN FOUNDERS. 89 

Shepherdstown. — This appears to be the oldest town in the 
Valley, having been settled by German immigrants about 
1727. It was first called New Mecklenburg; later, Mecklen- 
burg; and it is at present called after the name of its leading 
founder, Thomas Shepherd. On fifty acres of his land the 
town was legally established in November, 1762, and was 
called Mecklenburg. During the yearsi-immedja^elyj follow- 
ing, Thomas Shepherclj ajid Elizabemllns wiTe s^lTa number 
of lots : Browfi/Tl^aysV^eally, Morgan, Bedinger, and others 
being among the purchasers. November, 1766, two annual 
fairs were provided for, to be held during two days each, one 
beginning on the second Wednesday in June; the other on the 
second Wednesday in October. ^" 

Martinsburg. — This town was established by law, October, 
1778, on 130 acres of land laid out by Adam Stephen, about 
the Berkeley County court house and sundry dwellings near 
it. The trustees appointed were, James McAlister, Anthony 
Noble, Joseph Mitchell, James Strode, Robert Carter Willis, 
William Patterson, and Philip Pendelton.^^ 

Harrisonburg. — By the same Act that, in May, 1780, gave 
a legal existence to the town of Louisville, at the falls of the 
Ohio, in the county of Kentucky, the town of Harrisonburg, 
laid out upon 50 acres of land, by Thomas Harrison, in the 
county of Rockingham, was established;^^ and, although it 
has not quite kept pace with its rival on the Ohio, it is, never- 
theless, one of the best kept and best equipped towns in the 
country, and is now rapidly approaching the proportions of 
a city. Harrisonburg is right in the midst of German com- 
munities ; and, in consequence, many of its townspeople are 
of the same race. Of the twenty persons owning lots in the 
town in 1785, at least five — John Apler, Peter Conrad, Fred- 
erick Spangler, J. Shipman, and Anthony Sourbeer — were 

19. Hening's Statutes, Vol. VII, p. 600; Vol. VIII, p. 255. 

20. Idem, Vol. IX, p. 569. 

21. Idem, Vol. X, pp. 293-295. 



90 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Germans.-- One of the oldest streets is German Street. The 
German element has had a prominent place in the life and 
progress of the town from the beginning to the present. 

New Market. — This town was established by law in the 
year 1784.-'^ Numerous German families in and about the 
place — the Henkels, Zirkles, Raders, Olingers, Bushongs, 
Neffs, Rosenbergers, Koiners, and others — have contributed 
largely to its growth and character. 

Front Royal. — In 1788 this town was established, in the 
county of Frederick (now Warren), on 50 acres of land — the 
property of Solomon Van Metre, James Moore, Robert 
Haines, William Cunningham, Peter Halley, John Smith, 
Allen Wiley, Original Wroe, George Chick, William Morris, 
and Henry Trout. The trustees appointed were the following 
gentlemen : Thomas Allen, Robert Russell, William Headly, 
William Jennings, John Hickman, Thomas Hand, and 
Thomas Buck.^* Van Metre was likely a Dutchman; and, of 
the others named, Halley, Chick, Trout, and Hickman were 
probably Germans. 

Keezletown. — Keezletown or, as it was first called, Keisell's- 
Town, was given a legal existence in October, 1791. From 
the Act of Assembly of that date the following is copied : 

That 100 acres of land, the property of George Keisell, in the 
county of Rockingham, as the same are now laid off into lots and 
streets, shall be established a town, by the name of Keisell's-Town; 
and that George Houston, George Carpintcr, Martin Earhart, Peter 
Nicholass, John Snapp, John Swisher, and John Pierce, gentlemen, 
shall be, and they are hereby constituted trustees thereof.2i> 

There is said to have been a sharp rivalry between Keezle- 
town and Harrisonburg for the position of honor as county- 
seat; but the latter finally won the coveted distinction. 

Passing from the list of the older towns of the vShenandoali 

22. Rockingham Register, March 20, 1885. 

23. Howe's Antiquities, p. 467. 

24. Kercheval's History of the Valley, p. 185. 

25. Hening's Statutes, Vol. XIII, p. 297. 



TOWN FOUNDERS. ' 91 

Valley to those that have risen into prominence within the 
last century, many are found in which the Germans have 
played an essential part : few, indeed, there are in which their 
influence has not been a telling factor. Space forbids the pre- 
sentation of detailed facts : only a few names may be men- 
tioned. Waynesboro, Stuarts Draft, Weyers Cave, and Mt. 
Sidney, in Augusta County; Bridgevvater, Dayton, Elkton, 
Broadway, and Timberville, in Rockingham; Mt Jackson, 
Ouicksburg, and Edinburg, in Shenandoah; and Luray and 
Shenandoah in Page, are all thriving towns of wealth and 
importance. Every one of them is surrounded by German 
communities ; and in every one of them is a strong element of 
German citizens. 

In order to show still more completely how thoroughly the 
German settlers of a century and more ago took possession 
of certain sections of the Shenandoah Valley, a list of villages 
and post offices that bear German names in the several coun- 
ties is appended. In this list none of thejiamesiof towns al- 
ready mentioned are included. 

Augusta County : — Avis, Clines Mills, Kiracofe, Koiners 
Store, Molers, Sangerville, Snyder, Stove^, Swoope, Vanlear. 

Berkeley County : — Bedington, Foltz, Van Clevesville. 

Frederick County : — Heiskell, Hinckle, Kernstown 
(Dutch?), Neffstown, Rosenberger, Shockeysville, Siler. 

Jefferson County : — Bakerton, Keller, Molers, Myerstown, 
Snyders Mills. 

Page County : — Hamburg, Koontz, Long, Mauck, Printz 
Mill, Shuler, Spitler. 

Rockingham County: — Bakers Mill, Bowmans Mill, Cap- 
bingers Store, Chrisman, Cootes Store, Criders, Fort Hoover, 
Friedens, Goods Mills, Harnsberger, Hollar, Hoover, Hupp, 
"^Karicofe, Kise, Linville, Meyerhoeffers 'Store, Ottobine, 
Stemphleytown, Suters, Wengers Mill, Whissens Mill, 
Wittigs, Zerkle Station. 

Shenandoah County: — Bowmans, Getz, Hamburg, 'Har- 



92 THE VAIvLEY GERMANS. 

mans Mills, Hepners, Hottle, Hupps Shop, Jacobs Church, 
Kerns Spring, Koontz Mills, Lantz Mills, Maurertown, 
Pughs Run, Rinkerton, Rosendale, Rudes Hill, Saumsville, 
SmoQts Mills, Smoots Store, Stickleys Quarry, Zepp. 

Warren County : — Hamburg.^" 

Altogether by the above showing, counting towns, villages, 
postoffices, and places of business, whose names are listed in 
standard publications, there are in the Shenandoah Valley no 
less than eighty-two places with German names : there are 
possibly eighty-five. Of these, twenty-seven are in Rocking- 
ham County ; twenty-two in Shenandoah ; eleven in Augusta ; 
eight in Frederick ; seven in Page ; six in Jefferson ; three in 
Berkeley ; and one in Warren. Thus far I have not been able 
to find any in Clarke. 

26. These names have been copied from the U. S. Postal Guide 
and from Rand, McNally & Co.'s Map of Virginia and Shipper's 
Guide. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Proportion and Distribution of the German Element 
IN THE Valley. 

The latter part of the preceding chapter, in which the towns 
and villages with German names in the several counties of 
the Shenandoah Valley have been enumerated, will serve as 
an introduction to this one. 

It has already been observed that the large land grants 
obtained west of the lower Shenandoah River in 1729 and 
thereabouts, by Robert Carter, Mann Page, and other English- 
men from eastern Virginia, kept the Germans out of what is 
now Clarke County, as well as from adjacent sections, to a 
greater or less degree. Moreover, the immigrants were urged 
on still further south and west, in many cases, by the dispute 
between Lord Fairfax and Jost Hite. So they went in largest 
numbers beyond the English colonies on the lower Shenan- 
doah, and beyond the debatable ground below the Massanut- 
ten Mountain, and thronged into what are now the counties 
of Shenandoah, Page, and Rockingham, They were checked 
before they reached the hills pi Staunton by the strong lines 
of Scotch-Irish, rapidly forming and taking position in those 
quarters, in and after the year 1732. At a much later date 
many of the Germans out-flanked the defenders of Augusta 
and Rockbridge, and took advanced positions in what are now 
the counties of Botetourt, Roanoke, and Franklin; but with 
them we have not to do in this study. 

Some of the earliest German settlements in the Valley were, 
as we have seen, in what are now JefTerson and Berkeley coun- 
ties, West Virginia; but, upon the whole, the Germans have 
always been in the minority in the districts between Winches- 
ter and the Potomac. It is between Winchester and Staunton, 
therefore, in upper Frederick, western Warren, in Page, Shen- 
andoah. Rockingham, and lower Augusta that we find the Ger- 



94 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

man strongholds. Woodstock, in early times, was doubt- 
less very near the heart of the German communities; 
but in later times the center of population would likely be 
found further southwest, considerably nearer Harrisonburg. 
For, as time went on, the tide of immigration continued to 
roll slowly up the Valley. Many of the Scotch-Irish went 
further south and west; and the Germans steadily followed 
them. Says Mr. Waddell : 

The places of the emigrants [from Augusta westward] were taken 
by immigrants from Pennsylvania and the lower valley, generally 
people of German descent — the most thrifty of farmers — and thus 
the country suffered no loss in population. i 

From the Valley counties of Frederick, Shenandoah, and 
Rockingham, the German pioneers soon spread across 
the mountains westward into the valleys of the South 
Branch of the Potomac, and helped to build up the 
counties of Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton, in West Vir- 
ginia. Some of the family names borne by this contingent 
were, Strader, Bowman, Hite, Minear, Stump, Snyder, Wool- 
ford, and Brake.^ On the eastern side of the Blue Ridge, 
home-seekers from Germanna and adjacent colonies came up 
along the Robinson River in Madison County, and took posi- 
tions very hear to their kinsmen just beyond the mountain 
range. Sometimes they must have reminded one another that 
they were neighbors; and occasionally the religious leaders of 
the eastern side crossed the rugged barrier of nature, and- 
ministered to the shepherdless flocks along both branches of 
the Shenandoah. Among these early neighborly neighbors of 
Madison County were Yeagers, Utzs, Wielands, Huffmans, 
Zieglers, Zimmermans, Clores, Fleishmans, Kochs, Schmits, 
and Blanchenbuchters.^ 

At the present, one would be safe in saying that in the Valley 

1. Annals of Augusta, p. 376. 

2. Fast and Maxwell's History of West Virginia, p. 9. 

3. Orange Co. Deed Book 2; Virginia Magazine, Vol. XIV, No. 2, 
pp. 136-170. ' 



N 



PROPORTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 95 

counties of Frederick, Warren, and Augusta, about one-half 
of the people are of direct German descent, and bear German 
names ; and that in the counties of Shenandoah, Rockingham, 
and Page, from two-thirds to three-fourths are German. 
This does not mean, of course, that any considerable number 
of the people still use the German language, or that all of the 
German family names would at once be recognized as such; 
but the statements are held to be true, not only of the present, 
but of the last hundred and fifty years, except in the case of 
Augusta County. There, a century or more ago, would have 
been found a much smaller proportion of Germans than at 
the present. 

Basing a calculation upon the figures supplied by the census 
of 1900, and assuming that 70 per cent, of the people in Page, 
Rockingham, and Shenandoah are of German descent; that in 
Augusta and Frederick the rate is 50 per cent. ; in Warren, 
40 per cent. ; and, in Berkeley and Jefferson, 20 per cent., a 
total would be reached in these eight counties of about 90,000. 
Partly in proof of the foregoing statements, and partly to 
show how these conclusions have been reached, a few particu- 
lar facts and figures are herewith presented. 

From the records of Frederick, Augusta, and Shenandoah 
counties, the names of persons whose wills were recorded 
during the period of the Revolution have been collated ; and, 
from the records of Rockingham, the names of persons who 
sold land during the same period. The last list has been taken 
from the deed books, for the reason that the will books of 
Rockingham for the period under review were badly damaged 
by fire during the Civil War. These four lists of names, 
copied indiscriminately, have been used for the purposes of 
comparison. Of a list of 125 names from the records of Fred- 
erick County, from 1770 to 1783, about 45, or 36 per cent., 
are German ; in a list of 92 from Augusta, from 1778 to 1786, 
about 12, or slightly over 13 per cent., are German; among 
102 names from Rockingham, from the organization of the 
county in 1777 to 1793, about 52. or 51 per cent., are German; 



96 THK VALLEY GERMANS. 

and among 68 names from Shenandoah (then including most 
of Page), from the organization of the county in 1772 to 
1784, about 48, or over 70 per cent., are German.^ In the 
Shenandoah County Deed Book B, a volume of 544 pages, 
covering the period from 1774 to 1777, at least half of the 
signatures are recorded in German script^_ 

In the year 1809, a list of the unclaimed letters, remaining 
in the Harrisonburg postoffice on September 30, was pub- 
lished in the Staunton German newspaper — Dcr Deutsche 
Virginicr Adlcr — of November 18; and, among the 58 names 
of men and a few women, at least 34, or over 58 per cent., are 
German. On January 10, 1821, a similar list of letters in the 
Woodstock postoffice was published in the Woodstock Her- 
ald; and, of 78 names, at least 54, or over 69 per cent., are 
German.^ The lower county, Shenandoah, still embracing 
most of what is now Page, is still ahead of Rockingham in 
German names ; but the balance is becoming more nearly even, 
as the tide of humanity continues to push upward. 

Other figures of a still later period show substantially 
equivalent results. In 1861, at the outbreak of the Civil War, 
the Tenth Regiment Virginia Volunteer Infantry, commanded 
successively by Colonels S. B. Gibbons, E. T. H. Warren, 
and D. H. Lee Martz, was composed of 671 men: five com- 
panies from Rockingham ; two companies from Shenandoah ; 
one company from Warren ; and one company from Page. 
Of the 671 men in the regiment as a whole, at least 342 or 
nearly 51 per cent., bore German names. Among the 338 
men composing the five companies from Rockingham, at least 
175, or nearly 52 per cent., bore German names. Of the two 
Shenandoah companies, aggregating 152 men, no less than 
95, or over 62 per cent., were Germans. Twenty-eight out of 
fifty-eight, or over 48 per cent., in the Warren company, and 
44 out of 123, or nearly 36 per cent., in the Page company, 

4. For the lists of names in question, see Appendixes C, D, E, F. 

5. For the full lists in question here, see Appendixes A and B. 



PROPORTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 97 

were Germans. The proportion of Germans from Rocking- 
ham, Shenandoah, and Page would doubtless have been much 
greater, had it not been for the fact that in these counties 
were large German communities of Dunkers and Mennonites, 
who, being opposed to war upon religious principle, of course 
did not volunteer. Comparing the particular companies of 
this regiment, Company F, the Muhlenberg Rifles, from 
Woodstock in Shenandoah County, had the largest proportion 
of German names : 54 in 76, or over 71 per cent. ; while Com- 
pany H, Chrisman's Infantry, from wesucrn Rockingham, 
came next in order, with 60 German names in 90, or 66% 
per cent. Company H, 12th Virginia Cavalry, Ashby's Bri- 
gade, commanded first by Captain, later Colonel, Emanuel 
Sipe, was composed chiefly of men from eastern Rockingham; 
and had at least 84 German names among 124 — hearly or 
quite 68 per cent.*' In Hardesty's historical and biographical 
atlas of Rockingham County, published in 1884, are given 
biographical sketches of 86 prominent citizens — chiefly na- 
tives — of the county; and among the number are about 55, 
or 64 per cent., of German name and lineage. 

If one should attempt to go beyond the number of fami- 
lies and individuals with German names, and make a census 
of all the people in the Shenandoah Valley who have a con- 
siderable infusion of German blood, it is likely that only a 
few — a very few — could prove their right to exclusion. But 
the impracticable and impossible shall not be attempted. Be- 
fore leaving this phase of our subject, however, it is deemed 
appropriate to notice in some detail the transformations that 
many of our German names have undergone, :and the conse- 
quent difficulty that one must experience in the effort to 
trace their proper origin. The ingenious disguises under 
which these names are often found, make it extremely prob- 
able that any enumeration of them, based chiefly upon dieir 

6. These figures are based upon muster rolls given in Hardesty's 
Atlas of Rockingham County. 
—7 



98 THK VALLKY GERMANS. 

present forms, is apt to fall below their actual number. 
There have been many forces at work in America, — and it 
has been necessarily so from the very nature of things, — to 
change German names into English forms; such changes 
have come as naturally and inevitably as the change of lan- 
guage; but there have not been any appreciable forces tending 
to change English names and American common speech to 
German, While we may expect, therefore, to find many 
German families of to-day writing their names in English, 
Irish, and Scotch-Irish forms, we need not expect to find 
many English, Irish, or Scotch-Irish families hidden under 
German names. Kurthermore, there seem to have been a few 
individuals among the early German immigrants that brought 
English-looking and English-sounding names with them. 
In exemplification of the last statement, the instances im- 
mediately following are cited. In the seven years beginning 
with 1749 and ending with 1755, no less than ten of the 
German immigrants landing at Philadelphia — men for 
the most part over sixteen years of age — bore the 
family name of Adam or Adams: Jacob Adams, Hans 
Adam, Adam Adams, Johan Henrich Adam, Peter Adam, 
Johannes Adam Adam, Han' Jacob Adam, Ernst Chris- 
toph Adam, Jacob Adam, Friederich Adam.* In 
1739 Jacob Allen signed the port register; and in 
1751,' Johann Adam Allan. In 1752, 1753, and 1754, five 
men with the name Arnold, twice wholly in its English form, 
were entered : Christoph Arnoldt, George Arnolt, Johannes 
Elias Arnoldt, Lorentz Arnold, Wilhelm Arnold. In thrpc 
years, 1750-1752, there were at least thirteen Bronnis, with 
only two letters in spelling and nothing in pronunciation to 
change : Hans Braun, Johannes Jacob Braun, Johann Georg 
Braun, Andreas Braun, Johan Friederich Braun, Johan 

7. Han may sometimes be a corruption of the French Jean7 but is 
more frequently, perhaps, from the Dutch Jan or the German Hans. 

8. These and the following illustrations in this chapter have been 
prepared from a study of Rupp's Thirty Thousand Names. 



PROPORTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 99 

Georg Braun, Jacob Braun, Valentin Braiin, Christian 
Braun, Johannes Braun, Johannes Braun, Jr., Jacob Braun, 
Jacob Braun, Sen. Christian Fisher was almost an Eng- 
lishman upon his arrival in 1749. In 1750 Bernhart Gil- 
bert, and in 1752 Johann Georg Gilbert and Andreas Gilbert, 
came to Pennsylvania : How long after their descend- 
ants learned English was their name recognized as Ger- 
man? Other examples under this head may be given in 
rapid succession: Jacob Daniel (1750); Henrich Hall 
(1751); Hans Hay, Johann Hay, both in 1751; Johann 
Conrad Hay (1752); Hans Georg Hay (1753); Andreas 
Linden (1753); Jacob Paule (1750); Nicklas Paul and 
Peter Paul (1754);Johan Valentin Ross (1751); Jo- 
hann Jacob Ross (1753); Adam Samuel (1763); Ja- 
cob Stark (1750); J. Henry Tillman (1751); Johannes 
Tillman (1752); Baltzer White (1751). Other names not 
English, perhaps, yet at the same time not usually Gennan, 
were: Paulus Christian (1750); Hans Georg Christein, 
Christian Christein, and Peter Christein, 1751; Johan Chris- 
tian, Ludwig Christian, Frederick Christian, Job. Wilhelm 
Christian, Johann Christian, and Johannes Christian, in 1753 
and 1754; Johann Nicklaus Ker, Johann Georg Curr, and 
Henrich Curr, 1751; and Isaac Reno, in 1751. Most of the 
Herrings of the Valley are perhaps Scotch-Irish; yet there* 
were a number of Germans in Pennsylvania bearing the same 
name. Within a period of four years, seven at least landed 
at Philadelphia: in 1751, Philip Hering, Johan Henrich Her- 
ing, Philip Wendel Horing, Johannes Horing, Johannes Her- 
ing, and Johann Friederich Hering; and, in 1753, Jacob 
Hering.' It would not be strange if one or two of these men 
got up into the Shenandoah Valley. 

Reverting from those German names that were occasion- 
ally introduced into America already clad in English or 
Scotch-Irish dress, to those whose German form was of such 
a sort as to be readily lost in another, we have an almost 
endless number of such as the following: Altrich; Bischoff; 



100 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Fiichs (Fox); Hamen; Henrich ; Konig, Konig (King); 
Mohr;^ Newman; CEllen (Allen) ; Pfuller; Preyss (Price) ; 
Reiss, Reys (Rice) ; Roller; Stauber, Stauffer, Stoever (Stef- 
fer, Stover) ; Stein (Stone) ; Von Weber, Weber (Weaver) ; 
Wilhelm (Williams) ; Yung (Young) ; Zimmermann (Car- 
penter). 

No name looks less German, perhaps, than Mchiturff ; and 
yet it is very probable that the well known Valley family 
bearing this name at present is not of Scotch descent. "Mc- 
Intorf," "McEntorf," "Mackinturf," "Mackingturf," and 
"Macanturf" are some of the earlier forms in which the name 
has been written. The writer was informed several months 
ago by Colonel S. R. Millar, of Front Royal, Va., that he had 
been told the name was of German origin. Under date of 
October 24, 1906, Prof. J. B. Mclnturff, of Strasburg, Va., 
wrote the author as follows : "As to the origin of the name, 
I know nothing authoritatively. Otto Portner, an educated 
German, * * * told me more than once that he thought our 
name was originally the German 'Mugendorf.' " The proba- 
bility here recognized is considerably strengthened by the fol- 
lowing record, more than a century and a quarter old : On 
June 25, 1779, John Macanturf, Sr., made his will; and from 
it we learn his wife's name, Roseanah ; the names of his 
daughters, Mary and Margaret ; and the names of his six 
sons : John, Frederick, Daniel, David, Christopher, and 
"Gasper."^" The names Frederick, Christopher, and "Gas- 
per" sound exceedingly German. At any rate, it is hardly 
probable that the three would have been found in one Scotch 
family. 

I am informed by Dr. O. B. Sears, of the University of 

9, From 1749 to 1754 no less than ten Germans with this name 
landed at Philadelphia: Anthony Moor, Andreas Mohr, Peter Moore, 
Johann Michel Mohr, Andreas Mohr, Hans Martin Mohr, Johannes 
Mohr, Bastian Mohr, Johan Wilhelm Mohr, and Johan Jacob Mohr. — 
The founder of the well known town of Moorefield, W. Va., was 
evidently a German — Conrad Moore. — Hening's Statutes, Vol. 9, 
p. 425. 

10. Shenandoah County Will Book A, p. 250. 



PROPORTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 



101 



Virginia, that there are now in this country persons of eight 
different nationahties bearing his name; and that one stock 
or family in this group has derived the present form of the 
name from the German-Swiss, "Zaher." 

As curious examples of patronymical metamorphoses, the 
two names, Coyner and Grabill, are cited. The former has 
been written in at least fifteen forms, namely : Coiner, Coy- 
nant, Coyner, Kaeinath, Kainath, Keinath, Keinodt, Keinot, 
Keynot, Kiner, Koinath, Koiner, Konot, Koynat, Kyner; the 
latter has been transformed even more frequently, and has 
appeared with the following variations: Crabill, Creabill, c.vn^^'s 
Crebil, Crybile, Grabill, Graybill, Grebiel, Grebihl, Greebel, Or^y^t^ ^ 
Gribel, Gribeler, Griebil, Grobil, Krebil, Krebill, Kreble, To-e^/v^ 
Krebiill, Krehbiel, Kribel, Kriebel. 

There have been, occasionally, deliberate efforts on the 
part of government authorities, as in Pennsylvania in the first 
quarter of the nineteenth century,^^ to oblige German immi- 
grants to anglicize their family names; but such cases are 
likely rare ; and the main causes for the disguising of German 
names are likely to be found elsewhere : in ignorance, both 
of the Germans themselves in reference to the English lan- 
guage, and of English officials in reference to German forms; 
in a natural desire on the part of the Germans for political 
privileges in the commonwealth, and for social recognition 
among their neighbors ; and, finally, in a gradual and natural 
process of evolution, which seems to influence all nationalities 
in speech and literature: of which few individuals are con- 
scious, and for which fewer still are responsible. 

A pleasing contrast to these many changes is afforded by 
the fact that intelligent and persistent efforts have been made 
in some cases to preserve the ancient landmarks of speech and 
name. Not only is this true of certain families and individ- 
uals; but organizations of wide influence have made similar 
efforts. In 1820, the Lutheran Tennessee Synod, a body 
strongly represented in the Valley of Virginia counties, 

11. Report of Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. I, p. 547. 



102 



the: valley GERMANS. 



passed a resolution directing that all the discussions of the 
body should be carried on in the German language ; and that 
the printed reports should also be sent out in German. ^^ 
Doubtless there was behind this action a cherished sentiment; 
but there was also the desire to avoid a confusion of tongues, 
and to promote uniformity and even-handed justice in eccle- 
siastical legislation. The Mennonities of Rockingham and 
adjacent sections, with perhaps one or two other religious 
bodies, also made a systematic endeavor to perpetuate the 
language of their fathers ; and they appear to have succeeded 
for the most part in doing so until about the middle of the 
last century. -^^ 

But the old order has changed, and has very generally 
given place to the new. As one generation has succeeded an- 
other, the circles in which the German language and customs 
are preserved have steadily narrowed, until at the present 
time it is not probable that over five per cent, of the German 
families in the Valley still use the German language. ^^ Most 
of these are to be found in the western sections of the counties 
of Rockingham and Shenandoah. ^^ It may be in place to ob- 
serve, moreover, what may readily be surmised, that this lan- 
guage is a sort of patois — a form of "Pennsylvania Dutch" — 

12. Henkel's History of the Tennessee SjMiod, p. 25. 

13. Hartzler and Kauffman's Mennonite Church History, p. 203. 
.14. Bj-ofr Seidensticker puts the number of German newspapers 

published in Virginia in 1880 at only five; and it is doubtful whether 
any one of these was produced in the Shenandoah Valley. It is 
possible that some — a very few — of the older Germans in that sec- 
tion may have been subscribers to one or more of the 87 German 
papers that were printed at the same time in Pennsylvania. — Die 
Erste Deutsche Einwanderung in Amerika, p. 17. 

15. The writer has been "able to re-enforce his own observations on 
this point by information received through the kindness of the fol- 
lowing gentlemen, all of whom have a wide acquaintance with the 
Valley people: Eld. Daniel Hays, Broadway, Va.; Eld. H. C. 
Early, Harrisonburg, Va.; Prof. J. Carson Miller, Moores Store, Va.; 
Eld. B. W. Neff, Quicksburg, Va.; Prof. E. T. Hildebrand, Roanoke, 
Va.; Rev. P. S. Thomas, Harrisonburg, Va. 



PROPORTION AND DISTRIBUTION. 103 

and is limited almost without exception to the familiar inter- 
course of the home circle. Another generation or two will 
almost certainly witness its utter extinction. As the old dia- 
lect is going out, however, a better form is coming in. It 
has already been remarked that many of the present genera- 
tion are taking up as an accomplishment what their fore- 
fathers long ago cast ofif as an impediment : many of the toys 
i'nd girls in school are now studying German. This action 
on their part will not only enable them to know better who 
and what their fathers were; but it will also enable them to 
appropriate from the wealth of ancient treasures, in art and 
song and story, the best that their fathers knew. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Reugious Life and Organization. 

Most of the Germans identified with the Shenandoah Val- 
ley have been pious, God-fearing people ; and although it was 
probably a generation or more after the time of their first 
settlements until they had church houses and regular pastors, 
they nevertheless did not neglect the assembling of themselves 
together in the services of worship. These early meetings 
were doubtless held, for the most part, in family dwellings 
and in schoolhouses. It appears to be an established fact that 
the English and Scotch-Irish, particularly the latter, had regu- 
lar church houses and settled pastors before the Germans. 
The Tuscarora meeting house, near Martinsburg in Berkeley 
County, and the Opequon church, about three miles south of 
Winchester, both erected about 1736, were probably the first 
buildings of the kind in the Valley. The old Stone Church, 
Fort Defiance, Augusta County, was erected in 1740; and 
shortly afterwards a church must have been built a few miles 
to the southeast, at Tinkling Spring.^ All of these were 
Presbyterian churches. 

There are, and have been from early times, five religious 
denominations in the Valley that may be regarded as German 
sects, to which most of the people of German descent in that 
section have been attached ; but there are to this rule numer- 
ous and notable exceptions, which shall first be hastily re- 
viewed. 

A number of the prominent German pioneers of the lower 
Valley appear to have been identified with the Episcopal 
church. This condition is perhaps explained by the two facts, 
first, that the German sects were largely without efficient or- 

1. Kercheval's History of the Valley, p. 59; Cooke's Virginia, 
pp. 322, 323; Foote's Sketches, p. 19; Peyton's History of Augusta, 
pp. 80. 81. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 1C5 

ganization and pastoral service until 1760 or later; and, 
second, that the Episcopal church had the influential support 
of the governing element of the colony. Thomas Shepherd, i 
of Shepherdstown, was an Episcopalian, and erected the first 
Episcopal church at that place. Jost Hite is helieved to have 
been a Lutheran or German Reformetl ; but his oldest son, 
John, was a vestryman of the Frederick parish ; and Bishop 
Meade says that other descendants became active members or 
friends of the Episcopal church. Other Germa'ns, who were 
vestrymen of the Frederick parish prior to 1769, were John 
Bowman, Isaac Hite, Thomas Swearingen, and John Funk. 
In 1772 Jacob Hite, Isaac Hite, and John Hite were members 
of a committee of ten appointed by the General Assembly for 
ascertaining the value of the churches and chapels in the 
parishes of Frederick, Norborne, and Beckford.^ Van 
Swearingen, Philip Bush, Isaac Hite. Jr., and Frederick Con- 
rad are other early Germans classed by Bishop Meade as 
Episcopalians ; but Conrad, Bush, and some of the Shepherds \ 
appear later, in the work of the same author, as Luthefans. 
This fact lends credence to the opinion that some of the early 
German settlers entered the Episcopal communion only until 
the sects of their own nationality reached a better stage of 
organization. o y^ 

The last observation suggests the protracted controversy 
regarding General ' Muhlenberg, as to whether he was an 
Episcopalian or a Lutheran. As a matter of fact, he seems 
to have been connected with both churches. By his antece- 
dents, early training, and personal preference he was doubt- 
less a Lutheran ; yet he seems beyond question to have re- 
ceived Episcopal ordination ; and he probably ministered oc- 
casionally to Episcopal congregations. His connection with 
the Church of England was probably sought in order that 
his work as a clergyman might receive the readier and fuller 
legal sanction. 

2. HeninRS Statutes, Vol. 8, pp. 415; 623-625. 



IOC THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Prominent among the later German Episcopalians were 
some of the Steenbergens, of Shenandoah County, and Daniel 
Sheffey, of Augusta.^ 

A few of the Valley Germans are at present members of 
the Presbyterian church ; and the same thing has probably been 
uniformly true during the last century and a half. Some of 
the Engles and Molers, prominent families of the lower Val- 
ley, have been Presbyterians for several generations;^ Dr. 
Henry Ruffner, a member of the noted Page family, and for 
many years president of Washington College, led his descend- 
ants into the same faith; Capt. Anthony Spengler, of Shen- 
andoah County, was another early member of prominence; 
Rev. Dr. Conrad Speece (1776-C.1835), son of Conrad Speece 
of Germany, was the Presbyterian pastor for many years of 
the Augusta Stone .Church.^ 

A fact generally lost sight of is that some — only a few, 
perhaps — of the early German settlers of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia were Catholics. About one-tenth of the German 
emigrants who flocked to London in Queen Anne's reign, 
seeking passage to the New World, were sent back to the 
Continent, for the reason, apparently, that they belonged to 
the church of Rome." Nevertheless, a good many of the 
same faith got to America. On August 26, 1751, in a ship- 
load of 236 German immigrants landing at Philadelphia, 
there were fifty Roman Catholics. This, however, was an 
unusually large proportion. From September 5, 1751, to 
November 7, 1754, ten different shiploads of immigrants, 
aggregating 2873 persons, included 78 Catholics : about 2^ 
per cent, of the whole" number, and an average of nearly eight 
individuals to each shipload.''' How many German Catholics 

3. Meade's Old Churches, Vol. IT, p. :il5; Waddcll's Annals of 
Augusta, p. 439. 

4. History of the Engle Family, pp. 19, 23, 34, etc. 

5. Foote's Sketches, pp. 349, 486. 

6. Pennsylvania Magazine, Vol. X, p. 381. 

7. Rupp's Thirty Thousand Names, pp. 246-34G. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 107 

got into the Shenandoah Valley in the early days, no one 
can tell; but there must have been a few. In 1743 and in 
1749, Moravian missionaries found A''. Schmidt Stcpfa, or 
Stcphan Schmidt, a Catholic, living on or near the Opequon 
Creek. Extracts from Leonard Schnell's diary, under date 
of November 20 and 21, 1743, are cited in p>oint: 

At sunset we came to a German innkeeper, Jost Hayd, a rich 
man, well known in this region. He was the first settler there. He 
was very courteous when he heard that I was a minister. I asked 
him for the way to Carolina. He told me of one, which runs for 150 
miles through Irish settlements, the district being known as the 
Irish tract. I had no desire to take this way, and as no one could 
tell me the right way I felt somewhat depressed. I asked the Lord 
to show me the right way, but slept little that night. , 

On the 21st, immediately after arising, one of the servants came 
to me and told me that two miles from there a man lived, who 
could tell me the right way. I went to him. He was very kind and 
quite willing to tell me the way. His name is Stephan Schmidt, a 
Catholic, but hungry to hear the word of the cross. Many spirit- 
ually hungry people, of German nationality, live there, who have no 
minister.8 

Six years later, Schnell and John Brandmueller were wel- 
comed at Schmidt's house; but he assured them that the peo- 
ple of the surrounding country wei e generally hostile to them, 
owing to the warnings of Rev. Mr. Klug, the l<utheran min- 
ister of Madison County.^ 

A considerable number of the German faniilies of the 
Valley belong to the Methodist church. Kercheval tells that 
in 1775, or thereabouts, two ministers oE that denomination, 
John Hagerty and Richard Owens, — supposed to have been 
the first representatives of their faith in that part of the 
colony, — stopped over night at the home of Maj-or Lewis 
Stephens, founder of Stephens City; and on the next day, 
Sunday, preached to the people of the neighborhood. A small 
church was soon built up, among the members of which were 
the following Germans: John Hite, Jr., and his sister, Mrs. 

8. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 4, pp. 373, 374. 

9. Idem, No. 2, pp. 128, 129. 



108 THE VAI^IvEY GERMANS. 

Hughes; Lewis Stephens, Sr., and wife; Lewis Stephens, Jr., 
and wife. Very cordial relations have always existed between 
the Methodists and the United Brethren ; and this fact, coupled 
with a rather interesting circumstance in the transition from 
the German language to the English among the latter, was 
instrumental in adding to the former body a number of mem- 
bers of German descent in the early part of last century. For 
several years following 1809, these two denominations, in 
Rockingham and adjacent counties, seem to have labored 
much in common; indeed, there was a protracted effort for 
union between them; and, in consequence, while the older 
members of the United Brethren families still held tenaciously 
to the German language, many of the young people, who pre- 
ferfed the English, were advised to join the Methodist 
church. ^° 

The Valley Germans have been represented among the 
Baptists, to a greater or less degree, for several generations. 
Michael Engle (1781-1829), of Jefferson County, seventh" 
son of Philip and Mary Darke Engle (Mary Darke being 
a sister to Gen. William Darke), was such a devout Baptist 
that he made all the nails and spikes for Zoar Church, free of 
charge. Hon. Joseph Stover Spengler of Shenandoah and 
Warren, was a member of the Primitive Baptist church. In 
Page County, at the present day, a considerable number of 
the families of German descent belong to the same denom- 
ination. 

For at least ten years, from about 1743 to 1753, the Mora- 
vians of Bethlehem, Nazareth, and other points in Pennsyl- 
vania, made occasional missionary tours through the valleys 
of the Shenandoah and the South Branch of the Potomac. 
In 1748, Brother M. G. Gottschalk made a list of the places 
in Virginia where Germans were found — eleven places in all, 
as follows: Patterson's Creek, vSouth Branch, New-Found 
River, New River, Shenandoah, Massanutten, Cedar Creek, 

10. IlarrisonbufK Daily News, Marcli 21, 1905. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 109 

"The Upper Germans" [at or near Germanna], The Great 
Fork of tlie Rappahannock, the Little Fork of the Rappa- 
hannock, and Germantown [in Fauquier County]. But not- 
withstanding their frequent tours, unselfish labors, and pa- 
tient endurance of hardships, the Moravians do not appear to 
have secured any permanent footholds. Here and there an 
individual or a family received them with kindness and grati- 
tude. On October 22, 1753, a company of the brethren 
made record of the hospitality of the people in the neighbor- 
hood of the present town of Harrisonburg. But frequently 
they found conditions far otherwise. Prejudice and suspicion 
preceded them. Upon several occasions they felt constrained 
to note in their diaries the warnings that the Rev. Mr. Klug 
had given the people against them, upon his occasional visits 
to Massanutten and other points in the Valley. Moreover, 
the proclamation of Governor Gooch, made April 3, 1747, 
against "Itinerant Preachers — New Lights, Moravians, and 
Methodists," gave a legal sanction to religious bigotry. 

A few of the early Germans of the Shenandoah settlements 
appear to have belonged to the society of Friends. Paul 
Froman, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Jost Hite, is 
said to have been a member of that fraternity. ^^ Several gen- 
erations ago there was a Quaker meeting house and grave- 
yard near Quicksburg, Shenandoah County; and the Friends 
of Winchester and the vicinity still maintain a respectable 
place of worship in that city. It is not likely, however, that 
in either of these congregations the Germans have ever 
formed more than a minority. 

In certain parts of the district under review, the organiza- 
tion known as Disciples of Christ, or Christians, simply, em- 
braces within its membership considerable numbers of persons 
who represent families of German descent. 

Within the last fifty years or less a number of German 
Jews have located in the Valley, and have erected two houses 

11. West Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 109. 



110 THE VAI.LEY GERMANS. 

of worship : one in Staunton ; one in Harrisonburg. The 
total membership of these and neighboring congregations 
numbers between 300 and 400. 

If the testimony of the Moravians may be credited again, 
there were other sects, in addition to, or different from, those 
already mentioned and those to follow, that numbered at least 
a few adherents each among the early settlers along the Shen- 
andoah ; but then, evidently, as now, many creeds did not 
necessarily make many or charitable Christians. In 1748 
Brethren Joseph Spangenberg and Matthew Reutz wrote of 
themselves, in the third person, as follows : 

On July 27th, they journeyed from this place [Adam Rader's, near 
Timbervillel to Messinutty, where Germans of all kinds of denomi- 
nations live-rMennonites, Lutherans, Separatists, and Inspiration- 
ists. Bro. Joseph spoke to some of them, but they are very bad 
people. It is a dead place where their testimony found no entrance. 12 

Warnings by religious leaders and the proclamation by 
Governor Gooch had evidently made Massanutten a poor 
mission field for the Moravians; or it may be that the num- 
ber of sects already there was deemed amply sufficient. 

The rest of this chapter will now be devoted to a brief pre- 
sentation, in order, of the five denominations referred to near 
the beginning; nai lely, the Lutherans, the Mennonites, the 
German Reformed, the Dunkers, and the United Brethren. 
These sects, as already intimated, may all properly be re- 
garded as German sects; and within their folds the majority 
of the German people of the Shenandoah Valley have always 
been found. As to which body was first in the field, may be 
a disputed question ; but they probably came in in the order 
above indicated : the Lutherans, Mennonites, and Reformed 
near together at the first; the Dunkers and United Brethren 
nearly two generations later. 

It is the opinion of Mr. T. K. Cartmell, of Winchester, a 
gentleman who for many years has made a careful study of 
early conditions in the Valley of Virginia, that the Lutherans 

12. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 3, p. 240. 



RELIGIOUS UFE. HI 

of that section had no resident pastors until forty years or 
more after their first settlements. A somewhat extended in- 
vestigation of the subject has led the writer to the same con- 
clusion. If we count from the date of Adam Miller's settle- 
ment, that is, early in the year 1727, the time will be over 
forty years. Adam Miller was a Lutheran; but Muhlenberg, 
who located at Woodstock in 1772, appears to have been the 
first settled Lutheran pastor. ■ After his service, covering 
about three years, the Valley congregations were again with- 
out a resident minister till 1785, when Christian Streit settled 
at Winchester. ^^ 

But the various communities were not without religious 
services during all these years. At a number of places congre- 
gations were organized; at some places churches were built; 
and at most places the forms of public worship were regularly 
conducted either by some layman of the congregation, or by 
one of the ministers of their own or some other denomina- 
tion, who paid the settlements occasional visits. After 1750 
or thereabouts, it is probable that Lvitheran preachers from 
Pennsylvania and adjacent sections were among these oc- 
casional visitors; but the earliest of all likely came from east 
of the Blue Ridge. The Moravians, in their diaries of 1748 
and 1749, make repeated references to the pastoral attentions 
of Rev. Georg Samuel King, of Madison County, among 
the Valley congregations. Mr. Klug, who was ordained at 
Danzig on August 30, 1736, was called to Virginia in 1738, 
while Rev. John Casper Stoever was making his collecting 
tour in Germany. Klug lived till 1761 ; and although he 
was accused of some things not becoming to his office, he was 
very strict and earnest among his people, and had some — 
perhaps much — influence with the Governor. His ministra- 
tions in the Valley were evidently not limited to the sections 
now embraced by the counties of Rockingham, Page, and 

13. Idem, No. 2, p. 127; Gilbert's The Story of Our Fathers and 
Muhlenberg's Ministry in Virginia. 



112 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Shenandoah, but also extended, in influence at least, into 
Frederick County. In 1749 the Catholic, Stephan Schmidt, 
living on the Opequon, told Schnell and Brandmueller how 
the people of his neighborhood were incensed against the 
Moravians, owing to the warnings of Mr. Klug. The follow- 
ing paragraph, written in 1748 by Brother Gottschalk con- 
cerning the Massanutten settlement, now in Page County, 
will be of interest in this connection. 

Many Germans live there. Most of them are Mennisten [Men- 
nonitesl, who are in a bad condition. Nearly all religious earnest- 
ness and zeal is extinguished among them. Besides them, a few 
church people live there, partly Lutheran, partly Reformed. The 
Rev. Mr. Klug visits them occa.sionally. It is, so to say, one of his 
branch congregations, lie preaches and administers also tlie Lord's 
Supper to them. They do not want to hear the preaching of the 
brethren at this place. 14 

The Moravians state elsewhere that Mr. Klug visited the 
Shenandoah Germans "two or three times every year" ; and 
that he had correspondence with Muhlenberg — doubtless the 
General's father, H. M. Muhlenberg, who came to Pennsylva- 
nia in 1742. 

As already stated, some churches were built before any of 
the congregations had resident pastors. On May 15, 1753, 
Lord Fairfax gave the Lutherans of Winchester an acre of 
ground "for sacred uses"; and on April 16, 1764, the corner- 
stone was laid for a gray limestone church, which was finally 
completed in 1793. Less permanent quarters doubtless served 
as a place of worship for the congregation in the meantime. 
The front wall of this old church, which was destroyed by fire 
on the night of September 27, 1854, is still standing, and oc- 
cupies a position in the beautiful Mt. Hebron Cemetery, about 
sixty yards northeast of the entrance lodge. A few feet to 
the east of the picturesque ruin is the gi-ave of Rev. Christian 
Streit ; and a few rods further on is the grave of Gen. Daniel 

14, Virginia Magazine, Vol. XL No. 3, p. 229.— See also No. 2, 
p. 129; and Vol. XH, No. 1, pp. 60, 61. 






RHUGIOUS LIFE. 113 

Morgan. The old church was 52;^ feet long and 42 feet 
wide; the side walls were 23 J^ feet high, 2>4 feet thick, and 
were built upon a foundation wall 3]^ feet thick. The aisles 
were paved with square bricks. 

In 1768 the Lutheran and Reformed congregations living 
in the vicinity of McGaheysville, Rockingham County, made 
a written agreement, still preserved, to build a union house, 
which was known as the Peaked Mountain church. The same 
year, or earlier, the Lutherans and Reformed erected jointly, 
about a mile west of Timberville, the first structure known 
as Rader's church. In 1769, St. Paul's church, at Strasburg 
in Shenandoah County, was founded; and about 1773 young 
Muhlenberg's congregation at Woodstock began building a 
regular house of worship. The Woodstock church occupied 
a position upon the south corner of the public square, near 
the site of the present Episcopal church. In June, 1777, St. 
Peter's church, where Adam Miller worshiped, and where he 
jirobably was buried, was dedicated. This old church is about 
six miles north of Elkton, and only a short distance, on the 
opposite side of the South River, from the town of Shenan-. 
doah. Some five miles southwest of Waynesboro, Koiner's 
church, the first Lutheran church erected within the present 
limits of Augusta County, was built about 1780. The first 
trustees and organizers of the congregation were Casper 
Koiner, Martin Bush, and Jacob Barger. The Rev. Adolph 
vSpindle was probably the first pastor. Mt. Tabor, also in 
Augusta County, dates from about 1785. On March 30, 
1790, Rev. Paul Henkel and family located at New Market, 
where a house of worship, known for fifty years as Davids- 
burg church, now as St. Matthew's, was erected within the 
next two years. This church was also held jointly for some 
time by the Reformed and Lutherans, but the latter have had 
exclusive ownership and control for many years. The 
Lutherans of Mecklenburg, now Shepheristown, built in 

—8 



114: THE VALI^EY GERMANS. 

1795 St. Peter's church, which has just recently (1906) been 
renewed for the second time. Among others of the old 
Lutheran churches, the following should be mentioned : in 
Shenandoah County, Zion, near Hamburg; St. Jacob's, near 
Conic vi lie; Solomon's, near Forest ville; and, in Rockingham 
County, Friedens, located about seven miles south of Har- 
risonburg. The last is a very old church, and has probably 
been held jointly, throughout its history, by the Lutherans 
and Reformed. 

Some of the Lutheran ministers who have been identitied 
with the Valley of Virginia churches, by nativity or service 
or both, have been men of national eminence. The three 
*most distinguished were John Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg, 
Joseph A. Seiss, and Charles P. Krauth. The last was pastor 
at Winchester from 1848 to 1855; Dr. Seiss labored in the 
Valley from 1842 to 1847; and Muhlenberg was pastor at 
Woodstock from sometime in 1772 to January, 1776. He 
probably served congregations occasionally at other points 
also; namely, Winchester, Strasburg, and Rude's Hill. The 
last place is about three miles below New Market, and is 
the site of an old Lutheran church. Mr. Elon O. Henkel, of 
New Market, thinks that the famous war sermon was deliv- 
ered at Rude's Hill, as well as at Woodstock. 

Rude's Hill, rising from the southwest side of Meeni's 
Bottoms, is a well-known feature in the scenery along the 
Valley turnpike. It was named after a Lutheran preacher. 
Dr. A. R. Rude, who lived at its foot for a number of years 
just prior to the Civil War. 

Dr. D. M. Gilbert, in his sketch of the Lutheran church 
in Virginia, names five men whom he calls the fathers of the 
church in this State : Streit, Carpenter, Henkel, Flohr, 
^ Butler. 

John George . Butler (1754-1816) was born in Philadel 
phia and died in Cumberland, Md. His great work for Vir- 
ginia Lutheranism was done from 1800 to 1805, when, with 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 115 

Botetourt County as a center, lie worked out into the pioneer 
fields of western Virginia and Tennessee. George Daniel 
Flohr was born in Germany in 1759. He w^as a student of 
medicine at Paris in 1793, and a witness of many of the 
crimes of blood committed there in the name of liberty. Af- 
ter coming to America he studied theology under Mr. Car- 
penter, in Madison County, Virginia; and, a year or two 
prior to 1799, entered upon a long term of ministerial and 
pastoral service in Wythe County and adjacent sections of 
southwest Virginia. He died in 1826. Paul Henkel was 
born in Rowan County, North Carolina, December 15, 1754. 
From 1790 to 1800 and from 1805 till his death in 1825, he 
lived in Virginia, and traveled far and wide from his places 
of residence at New Market, Staunton, and elsewhere, doing 
the work of an evangelist. From the pulpit in the home con- 
gregations, and through the medium of the Henkel press, he 
also accomplished a telling work. He was one of the found- 
ers and organizers of the Synods of North Carolina, Ten- 
nessee, and Ohio. Plis journal, wherein he records various 
experiences of his missionary tours into these States, as well 
as into western Virginia and Kentucky, reinforces the sol- 
emn interest of truth with the no less real circumstances of 
romance and adventure. In 1787, or thereabouts, William 
Carpenter (1762-1833) was licensed by the Synod of Penn- 
sylvania, and entered upon the duties of the Christian 
ministry in the county of his nativity — Madison, Virginia, — 
where he labored twenty-six years, as both pastor and theolog- 
ical teacher. In 1813 he followed a colony of Madison 
Lutherans to Kentucky, where he died after twenty years 
more of service. Christian Streit did his great work in the 
Valley from 1785 to 1812, having his home at Winchester, 
where he is buried. His grave, just a few feet to the east of 
the stone ruin of the first Lutheran church in that city, has 
already been referred to; and the following lines, copied 
from his monument, will tell in brief the story of his life: 



116 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Christian Strcit 
Born in New Jersey 
June 7th 1749 
[N-W. Side.l . Ordained to the 

Gospel Ministry, 1769; 

Died at Winchester, Va 

March 10th 1812. 

First Minister of the 
fS-W. Side.l Evangelical Lutheran 

Church Born in America 

I have fought a good fight 
fS-E. Side.] I have finished my course 

I have kept the faith 

Pastor at Wincliester 
[N-E. Side.] July 19th 1785 

To March 10th 1812 

Tlie Henkel family of New Marl<et, distinguislied alike in 
theology, letters, and medicine, has several other names that 
ought to have a place upon the roll of Virginia Lutheran 
church fathers: namely, Philip (1779-1833), son of Paul; 
Ambrose (1786-1870), fourth son of Paul; David (1795- 
1831), son of Paul; Polycarp (1820-1889), oldest son of 
David; Socrates (1823-1901), son of David. The last two 

y must be ranked among the greatest leaders that the Lutheran 

\ church has ever had in the Southern States. 

I Most of the Lutherans in the Shenandoah Valley belong to 

/ the Tennessee Synod (organized 1820) and the Virginia 

Synod (organized 1829), A few congregations, mostly in 
Shenandoah County, are members of the Ohio Lutheran 
Synod ; while a few, one at least in Augusta County, belong to 
the Missouri Synod. A peculiar fact about the first named 
synod is that at present it has no members (congregations) 
in Tennessee; but it still holds its name from the place of its 
original organization. Most of these bodies cooperate in the 
United Synod of the Evangelical Lutheraii Church in the 
South, the tenth convention of which was held at Dallas, N. 
C, July 10-15, 1906. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. liT 

At present, according to the reports of the synods of 1906, 
the various Lutheran churches of the Shenandoah Valley own 
about 70 houses of worsiiip, and have altogether between 
6000 and 7000 communicant members. Of this number, 
nearly half, or upwards of 40 per cent., are found in Shenan- 
doah County. The Tennessee Synod has in Rockingham 
County six churches and about 500 members ; in Page 
County, five churches and about 300 members; in Shenan- 
doah, 16 churches and about 1400 members. The Virginia 
Synod has in Rockingham four churches and about 225 mem- 
bers; in Page, two churches and about 120 members; in Shen- 
andoah, 11 churches and about 1200 members; in Augusta, 
10 churches and about 1000 members; in Frederick, eight 
churches and about 900 members ; and in Jefferson two 
churches and about 330 members. ^^ The largest Lutheran 
congregation in the Valley is the one worshiping at Grace 
Church, Winchester, with a membership of 421. The three 
next in numerical order are the following: Christ Church, 
Staunton, 207 ; St. Peter's, Shepherdstown, 204 ; and St. 
Paul's at Strasburg, 192. 

It is probable that some of the very first settlers in the val- 
ley of the Shenandoah were members of the Mennonite 
church. If Adam Miller, the Lutheran, was the pioneer of 
the upper Valley, it is quite likely that, among those who 
followed him to Virginia in 1728 or 1729 and settled at Mas- 
sanutten, there was at least one Mennonite. Jacob Strickler, 
a Mennonite preacher, is said to have loc^d near the site of 
Luray about 1731. He was very probably the son of Abram 
Strickler, who died in the Page valley in 1746, and who, as 
one of the petitioners of 1733, stated that he had bought land 
of Jacob Stover at Massanutten about 1729. On December 
15, 1735, Abram Strickler bought a thousand acres more, 
which may have been intended for his son; and the said Jacob 

15. These figures may be subject to some corrections, inasmuch 
as some of the churches are near county lines, and the congregations 
tliereof may live partly in one county, partly in another. 



118 / THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Strickler is reported to have had 1640 acres in two tracts. 
Again, some of the early Page Mennonites are known to have 
borne the name Kauffman ; and the reader will possibly recall 
that Michael Kauffman was another one of the eight. men who 
signed the petition of 1733. It is not at all improbable, there- 
fore, that Abram Strickler and Michael Kauffman were both 
Mennonites. 

At any rate, we do not have to proceed far in this matter 
until we find ground that is certain. In 1739 Peter Ruffner, 
the ancestor of a well-known early Mennonite family, settled 
on the Hawksbill; and in 1748 the Moravian brethren found 
more Mennonites than any other denomination among the 
many Germans then living at Massanutten. In 1754 a dozen 
or more additional families came from Lancaster and Frank- 
lin counties, Pennsylvania, and settled in what are now the 
counties of Page and Shenandoah, near the sites of Luray 
and Woodstock, respectively. Among these families were 
the names Allebaugh, Blosser, Branneman, Fauber>. Funk, 
Graybill, Kauffman, Stauffer, Schenk, Swartz, Rhodes, and 
Wenger.^^ . At a period still later more came, and joined one 
community or the other. The Pennybackers, the iron-work- 
ers, came in 1781, and -settled on the Hawksbill. Kercheval, 
writing in the earlier half of last century, said : "In what is 
now Page county they [the Germans] were almost exclu- 
sively of the Mennonist persuasion ; but few Lutherans or 
Calvinists settled among them."^^ 

And yet, strange as it may seem, there are to-day less than 
a score of Mennonites in both Page and Shenandoah together. 
Since the Civil War the denomination has become almost 
extinct in these counties, while gaining correspondingly in 
the counties of Rockingham and Augusta. 

During the first three-quarters of a century or more of their 
history in Virginia, the Mennonites do not appear to have had 

16. H. and K.'s Mennonite Church History, p. 198. 

17. History of the Valley, p. 56. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 119 

any house erected exclusively for public worship, although 
as early as 1780 they had over forty churches in Pennsyl- 
vania. In Virginia, until almost the beginning of the second 
quarter of the nineteenth century, the regular Sunday services 
were held at the residences of some of the wealthier members, 
in large rooms of the dwellings, specially provided and 
equipped for the purpose. In 1822, however, a church was 
built — the first in Virginia — four miles west of Broadway, 
in Rockingham County. Trissel's church, as it is still known, 
was at first 20x25 feet in size; but was enlarged in 1854-5; 
and, in 1900, it was rebuilt with dimensions 40x50 feet. The 
first settlers in the neighborhood were the Brannemans, 
Brunks, Burkholders, Funks, Fulks, Rhodeses, Shanks, 
Swanks, and Trissels. In 1825 another house of worship, 
known as Moyers's, was erected about two miles east of Day- 
ton. This house was rebuilt upon an enlarged plan in 1878, 
and is now known as the Pike church — being located on the 
Valley Pike. A schoolhouse was also provided for at an 
early date, in connection with this church. Branneman's 
church, two miles west of Edom, was built in 1826; Burk- 
holder's, later Weaver's, two miles west of Plarrisonburg, in 
1827. Each of these churches had provision from the begin- 
ning for a schoolhouse on the church lot. The first two 
churches in Augusta County were the following: Hall's, 
later Kendig's, now Springdalc, five miles south of Waynes- 
boro, built in 1825; and Hildebrand's, three miles west of 
Crimora, built in 1828. 

The communicants of the Mennonite congregations in the 
Shenandoah Valley at the present number between 800 and 
900, distributed as follows : In Rockingham County, 585, with 
about ten churches; Augusta, 183, with five churches; Fred- 
erick, 16, with one church; Shenandoah, 15; Page, 2. In 
the adjoining counties of West Virginia there are several 
congregations; and there are a few members in each of the 
eastern Virginia counties of Warwick and Fauquier. The 



120 THE VALIvDY GERMANS. 

largest congregation in the State is that at Weaver's church, 
Rockingham County, numbering 229. 

The Mennonites have always been noted for their strict 
honesty, temperance, pure living, and conscientious devotion 
to their religious principles. At the same time, their habitual 
conservatism has in some instances made them more or less 
tenacious with regard to things the loss of which they now 
realize was not attended by any real injury. For example, up 
to the year 1840 their preaching and singing was exclusively 
in the German language. For the next forty years the two 
languages, German and English, contended for supremacy, 
with a steady gain on the part of the latter. Since 1880 no 
Virginia congregation has heard a discourse in German from 
a Virginia minister. Again, although the founders and early 
leaders of the church were educated men, higher education 
was for a long time sadly neglected by the majority of the 
membership. Within recent years, however, this condition 
has been rapidly undergoing a change. The sons and 
daughters of the church are being afforded better educational 
advantages, both in Mennonite schools, that are being devel- 
oped, and in others. Forty years before Robert Raikes 
started his noted Sunday-school movement, the Mennonites 
had a school near Harrisburg, Pa., where their children re- 
ceived instruction in the three R's during the week, and in the 
Bible on Sunday. ^^ Yet the Sunday-schools were allowed to 
languish for many years. It was as late as 1870 when the 
first one in Virginia was organized at Weaver's church. 
After three or four summer sessions it was discontinued, ow- 
ing to serious objections urged against it by prominent mem- 
bers of the church. Similar schools at one or two other 
places were- suspended also at about the same time; but in 
1882 the Sunday-schools were widely and permanently re- 
vived, and they have ever since been growing in favor and 
power. In 1892 the Virginia conference authorized the es- 

15. H. and K.'s Mennonite Church History, p. 358. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 121 

tablisliment of a home mission board, which has ah-eady ac- 
comphshed a good work. Within the last decade foreign 
missions have been inaugurated by the church at large; and 
only within the last half-year a devoted daughter of Rocking- 
ham died in the service in Turkey, almost as soon as she 
reached the field. 

The Virginia Mennonites have never been without leaders 
of considerable ability. The present bishop in Rockingham is 
a man of education and culture, learned in several languages, 
and widely recognized as a skilled mathematician. The most 
famous leader, perhaps, was Peter Burkholder (1783-c. 1853)', 
At the age of 21 years and two months he was ordained to 
the ministry — younger than any other man of his church in 
Virginia, before or since. About 1837 he was chosen bishop 
to succeed Henry Shank, the first who held the office in the 
State. Burkholder was a preacher of great power, and a 
writer of no mean accomplishments. Among his published 
works are the following: A Treatise on Baptism (1816); a 
Confession of Faith (1837); "Nine Reflections on the Holy 
Scriptures" (1837); and a Treatise on Predestination. His 
son, Martin Burkholder, also a Mennonite bishop, was 
scarcely less distinguished. 

Besides the doctrines and practices held and observed in 
common by all Christians, there are certain principles that are 
more or less distinctive of the Mennonites and a few other 
denominations. Fashionable and gaudy attire, the swearing 
of formal oaths, and membership in secret societies, are 
among the things carefully avoided; while feet-washing 
(John 13; 1 Tim. 5: 10), anointing with oil (James 5: 
14, 15), the kiss of charity (1 Pet. 5: 14; etc.), and non-re- 
sistance — the avoiding of personal combat as well as war — 
are ol^served with the same religious care. 

Their strong desire to refrain from all participation in car- 
nal warfare brought upon the Valley Mennonites manifold 
and intense sufferings during the late Civil War, when per- 
sistent efforts were made to press them into service; and their 



122 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

history from very early times has been marked by the same 
conscientious effort to maintain all peaceful relations, even at 
great cost. The statute books of Virginia bear witness. In 
July, 1775, an ordinance for raising troops indulged the 
Quakers and Mennonites, agreebly to certain Acts of the As- 
sembly, by exempting them from serving in the militia. In 
May, 1776, they were ordered to be enlisted, but were not 
compelled to attend general or private musters ; but in Octo- 
ber, 1777, they were drafted; and, although exempted from 
personal service, substitutes were to be provided by equitable 
assessment in the whole society. The last requirement was 
reinforced in May, 1780; and, in October, 1782, the require- 
ments were put in the following form : Quakers and Mennon- 
ites were to be drafted, though not compelled to serve in the 
army personally ; but a substitute was to be provided at "his 
expense" ; and if "he" were unable to pay the price, the 
amount was to be levied on the whole society. ^'^ 

There were members of the Gprman Reformed church in 
the ancient colony of Germanna, and in the surrounding col- 
onies of east ern Virgi nia that were offshoots from it ; and we 
may be almost certain that persons belonging to the same 
denomination were among the first settlers of the Shenandoah 
Valley. The Lutherans and Reformed went much together; 
and it is quite probable that the latter as well as the former 
had some representatives in the Valley shortly after 1730, if 
not before. In his records of March and April, 1748, the 
Moravian Gottschalk notes that there were Reformed among 
the Germans of Massanutten, as well as Lutherans and Men- 
nonites;^*^ and in May of the same year the Rev. Michael 
Schlatter, organizer of the Pennsylvania Reformed church, 
made a tour through the Shenandoah Valley, and visited con- 
gregations of his own people.-^ On May 15, 1753, Lord 

19. Hening's Statutes, Vol. 9, pp. 34, 139, 345; Vol. 10, p. 261; 
Vol. 11, p. 175. 

20. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XT, No. 3, p. 229. 

21. Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society, Vol. II, No. 3, 
p. 148. 



RELIGIOUS UFE. 123 

Fairfax presented a lot at Winchester to the German Re- 
formed congregation, which liad been organized in the vicin- 
ity about twelve years before. I was recently informed, while 
at Winchester, that tombstones in the Reformed church grave- 
yard at Shepherdstown, W. Va., bear dates going back to the 
1760's. It is probable that the burying grounds at Friedens 
Church, in Rockingham County, are even older. The records 
of the Peaked Mountain church, east of Harrisonburg, still 
preserved in the original German, begin about 1760, and show 
that the Reformed and Lutherans worked and worshipped to- 
gether there from an early date. From February, 1762, to 
December, 1763, Rev. I. C. Van Gemuenden, a Reformed 
minister, served the congregation.^^ In 1768 the two bodies 
agreed to build a union house of worship, as already noted. 
Early in 1768, the Reformed were worshipping with the Lu- 
therans at Rader's church, near Timberville, a house that was 
used jointly by the two denominations till 1879.^-'^ Many, 
perhaps most, of the early churches used by one were also 
used and partly owned by the other. In 1827 the Lutherans 
and Reformed issued a "fusion hymnbook," which was prob- 
ably continued in later editions. ^^ 

Among the early German Reformed ministers of the Val- 
ley, none was more prominent or influential than Rev. Dr. 
John Brown, who labored in Rockingham and Augusta from 
1799 to 1850. He was not only a man of deep religious con- 
victions and broad learning, but he was also endov^'cd with a 
large measure of foresight and good judgment, and was 
fully alive to the important issues of the times in which he 
lived. He was a rather prolific writer, and published a num- 
ber of volumes through the Wartmann press at Harrisonburg, 
one or two of which will be reviewed in a subsequent chapter. 
Rev. John C. Hensel, whose term of service extended from 

22. William and Mary College Quarterly, Vol. XIII, p. 247. 

23. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 3, p. 239. 

24. First Century of German Printing, p. vii. 



124 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

1857 to 1879, was another prominent leader in the same sec- 
tion. In the lower Valley, Rev. Henry St. John Rinker was 
a wellrknown minister, whose career of active service ex- 
tended over the latter half of the nineteenth century. 

There are to-day in the Shenandoah Valley about 30 Re- 
formed churches, with a total membership of about 2600, dis- 
tributed as follows : In Augusta County, two churches and 
234 members; Rockingham, 10 churches and 898 members; 
Shenandoah, 11 churches and 808 members; Frederick, two 
churches and 126 members; Berkeley, two churches and 363 
members ; Jefferson, three churches and 145 members. The 
largest single congregation is the one worshipping in Christ 
Church, Martinsburg, numbering 342."^ 

As already observed, representatives of the Lutherans, 
Mennonites, and Reformed were among the first Germans 
that settled in the Valley of Virginia; the Dunkers and 
United Brethren, on the other hand, do not appear until the 
last quarter of the eighteenth century. 

As early as 1745 some members of the Ephrata Sabbatarian 
colony, of Pennsylvania, came into Virginia, stopping first at 
Strasburg, then pushing on and founding a more or less tem- 
porary settlement on New River, in the present counties of 
Montgomery and Pulaski. The ill-fated, so-called Dunker 
settlements of Dunker Creek and Dunker Bottom, now West 
Virginia, were also likely made up of some of the Ephrata 
Brethren. In 1752 Heinrich Sangmeister (Brother Ezekiel) 
and Anton Hollenthal (Brother Antonius) came to the Funks 
at Strasburg, and established a community which gradually 
increased in numbers for several years. 

The Strasburg brethren kept as holy both the seventh and 
the first day of the week. They were law-abiding and indus- 
trious, and maintained themselves confortably and above re- 
proach ; yet an incident growing out of their religious zeal at 

25. These figures have been compiled from the Virginia Classis 
report for 1906. 



RElvIGlOUS LII'E. 125 

one time seemed to threaten their peace. Brother Ezekiel and 
Brother Antonius built a small cabin far up on the peak of the 
Massanutten Mountain, as a place for retirement and prayer. 
The little oratory had but a single small window, facing the 
east; but, by virtue of its eminent position, it commanded a 
view both wide and beautiful. But various mysterious re- 
ports of this mountain retreat came in time to the ears of the 
county authorities at Winchester, and the sheriff was sent out 
to investigate. When he came to Strasburg, and learned the 
real facts in the case, he had no word of objection or censure 
to offer; but the two brethren, meek enough for the blessed 
inheritance, hearing beforehand of the suspicions they were 
arousing, and being anxious to prove their law-abiding in- 
tentions and avoid all appearance of evil, had already demol- 
ished the sacred structure, and scattered its timbers upon the 
mountain-side. A hundred years later the armies of the 
South and the North seized the height, now one, now the 
other, and erected their signals of war upon the site of the 
little house of prayer. 

Sangmeister and Hollenthal returned to Pennsylvania in 
1764; but the Strasburg community appears to have been 
maintained until the period of the Revolution or later.^*' 

The fact that the Ephrata Brethren, who were an early off- 
shoot of the Dunkers, came to Virginia at the period above 
indicated, has given rise to various confusions and misunder- 
standings concerning the latter, as to both historical sequence 
and matters of practice and doctrine. The following account, 
regarding the settlement of the Dunkers, or German Baptist 
Brethren, in Virginia, I am enabled to give through the 
kindness of Elder Daniel Hays, of Broadway, Va. 

The first of the Dunkers to settle in the Valley was John 
Garber, who came with his family about the v ear 1777 . He 
had probably come alone and purchased land a year or two 

26. Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, pp. 331-359; First Cen- 
tury of German Printing, p. 225. 



126 the: VALLUY GERMANS. 

earlier. He located in the upper part of Shenandoah County, 
near the present village of Forestville and the site of the first 
church — Flat Rock. John Garber had seven sons, six of 
whom became ministers. Martin, one of the six, was elder 
of the first church iiiA/'irginia, which in territory extended 
from Harrisonburg to the Maryland line. Other Dunker 
families, notably the Myerses, Wines, Klines, Bowmans, Mil- 
lers, Kageys, Wamplers, Ziglers, and Florys, moved up 
from Pennsylvania and settled in the counties of Shenandoah 
and Rockingham. The number increased so rapidly that the 
annual conference of the whole Brotherhood was held at Flat 
Rock in 1799. Local congregations began later to taj<:e defi- 
nite form. Flat Rock, the original congregation, was divided 
and subdivided, and now comprises Flat Rock, Linville Creek, 
Greenmount, Brock's Gap, Lost River, Woodstock, Frederick, 
Powell's Fort, and Page, — nine congregations, or districts, 
with a membership of about 2000. 

In the district next above Harrisonburg, Garber's Church, 
located about two miles west of the town, is the oldest place of 
worship. The building was erected about 1800; and some of 
the early preachers that often officiated there were the follow- 
ing: Benjamin Bowman, Peter Nead, John Kagey, and Dan- 
iel Garber.^^ The first church organization of the Dunkers 
in Augusta County began about 1790, under the supervision 
of Elder — Miller. 

Only a few of the early leaders of the Dunkers in Virginia 
were educated men; but many of them were strong in Chris- 
tian character -and well furnished unto good works. One hes- 
itates to mention nam.es, for the reason that others just as 
worthy may be overlooked ; but the writer has heard the fol- 
lowing often spoken of as men who loved their fellow men 
and did much, often through great sacrifice, to serve them : 
In Augusta County, Daniel Yount and John A. Cline; in 

27. For this information I am indebted to Eld. J. M. Kagey, of 
Dayton, Va. 



REUGIOUS LIFE. 127 

Rockingham, Peter Nead, John KHne, Daniel Thomas, Sol- 
omon Garber, Isaac Long, John Flory, Frederick Wampler; 
ill/ Shenandoah, John Kagey, Jacob Wine, John Neff, Abram 
Neff; in Frederick, Daniel Baker; in Page, Samuel Spitler. 
Concerning Nead, Kagey, and Kline, a few more words may 
be allowed. 

The time and place of Eld. Peter Nead's birth are not 
known to the writer; neither is it at all certain that he should 
be identified with Rockingham County rather than with many 
other places. PI is labors extended far and wide, east and 
west of the Alleghanies. He appears to have been a man of 
some learning, and is perhaps best remembered by his rather 
extensive writings. I have before me an octavo volume of 
472 pages, entitled "Theological Writings on Various Sub- 
jects; or, A Vindication of Primitive Christianity." By 
Peter Nead, V. D. M. The title page bears the Latin quota- 
tion, "Veritas, a quocunquc dicitur, a Deo est." The book 
was printed in 1850, at Dayton, Ohio. John Kagey (1757- 
1845) lived near New Market, but his ministerial services 
were given freely to a large number of surrounding commu- 
nities. Because of his unfailing charities to rich and poor, 
white and black, and his uniform and sterling honesty, he was 
familiarly known as the "Good Man." The last seven years 
of his life were passed in blindness, but he still followed, as 
well as he could, his tasks of mercy and love. Joseph Sal- 
yards, the poet and self-made scholar, whose widowed mother 
often received for her children's need from his benevolent 
hand, has done honor to his memory in an elegy that deserves 
to live as long as beauty and truth belong to poetry. Elder 
John Kline (c. 1800-June 15, 1864) was perhaps the most 
active and influential church worker the Valley of Virginia 
Dunkers have ever had among them. He lived near Broad- 
way, but his labors extended west, north, and northwest, 
across the mountains and beyond the Potomac and the Ohio. 
During the thirty years of his ministry he traveled upwards 
of a hundred thousand miles, mostly on horseback. Owing 



128 THE VAIvIvEY GERMANS. 

to the fact that he did not cease his journeys north and west 
during the Civil War, but continued as usual to go where he 
heard the call of duty, he was met in the public highway near 
his home, and shot in cold blood, by men who should have 
been his neighbors. But he died as he had lived : with hi« 
face forward, and with neither fear nor hatred of man in his 
heart. His memory lives. 

In doctrine and worship the Dunkers are orthodox and 
evangelical. They are neither mystics nor ascetics, as some 
have supposed. Yet, like the Mennonites, they are marked 
by certain features that are more or less distinctive and pe- 
culiar. They observe as religious ordinances the kiss of char- 
ity, feet-washing, and the apostolic love-feast (agape) in con- 
nection with the communion in the eucharist; they practise 
the rite of anointing with oil, in cases of severe illness, though 
they do not at all neglect medical and hygienic aids ; they 
avoid the taking of oaths (holding their simple word as 
binding all their powers), going to law, membership in secret 
societies, and fashionable dress; and are unalterably opposed 
to war and easy divorce of husband and wife. In conse- 
quence of their non-resistant principles, they, like the Mennon- 
ites, have been accused of a lack of patriotism, and have at 
times suffered much in consequence of this and their refusal 
to bear arms. But they are not lacking in patriotism. They 
only believe that war is always wrong and debasing. They 
believe, as a thoughtful writer of history has said, that "there 
are few things, if any, more important to the steady growth 
of a free nation than the maintenance of domestic virtues and 
the sanctities of family life."^^ . They believe in helping the 
State and the nation, not by means of war and great standing 
armies, but by the useful and productive industries of peace; 
by earning an honest living, paying just debts and equitable 
taxes, by avoiding strife and contention as far as possible, by 

28. Frederick Seebohm, The Era of the Protestant Revolution, 
p. 223. 



RELIGIOUS UFE. 129 

settling peaceably, man to man or by additional counsellors, 
such disputes as inevitably arise ; and thus making alms- 
houses, jails, law courts, asylums, many policemen, and the 
expense of maintaining all these, largely unnecessary. They 
would apply this principle of peaceable adjustment of differ- 
ences upon a large scale, and have nations, as well as individ- 
uals, observe the golden rule in business and diplomacy, and 
settle all disputed points by honest reason and just arbitration 
before, rather than after, the battle. 

The founders, organizers, and early leaders of the Dunker 
church were men of education and culture; and they too, like 
the early Mennonities, anticipated Robert Raikes in the mat- 
ter of Sunday schools; yet for many years, in what may be 
termed the middle age of the church's history, higher educa- 
tion. Sunday schools, and foreign missions were largely neg- 
lected. But the revival has come, and come with tremendous 
energy, within the last thirty or forty years ; and the Dunkers 
of the Valley of Virginia are by no means the last or least 
among their fellows in the great forward and upward move- 
ment. 

The following statistics, gathered with much care within 
the last few months, arc regarded as substantially correct. 
The communicant members of the Dunker church in the 
Shenandoah Valley number altogether almost exactly 5000, 
and are distributed in the several counties as follows: Au- 
gusta County, 1531, with 18 churches and 7 preaching sta- 
tions; Rockingham, 2391, with 26 churches and 10 preaching 
stations; Shenandoah, 620, with 13 churches and 6 preaching 
stations; Frederick, about 50 members, with tvv^o churches 
and one preaching station; Page, 400 members, with four 
churches. In summary, according to the reports received, 
there are 63 churches, 24 preaching stations, and 4992 com- 
municants. Of the last, it Avill be observed that nearly 48 per 
cent, are in Rockingham County. A thriving college, 
founded in 1880, is maintained at Bridgewater. 

-9 



130 THE VALLEY GERMAN^. 

In 1885, at Maurertown in Shenandoah County, was l3egnn 
the first organization in Virginia of the more hberal branch 
of the Dunkers, usually known as the Progressive Brethren ; 
termed by themselves simply the Brethren Church. On in^.si. 
points of doctrine they follow the same interpretation as the 
main body of the church, but have rules differing somewhat 
upon matters of form and church government. At present 
this branch of the church has, in the Shenandoah Valley, 
northeast of Staunton, about 20 congregations and a member- 
ship aggregating upwards of 1000.-'* 

Neither the Dunkers nor the Mennonites have thus far 
sought any appreciable share in public or political life, partly 
because of their avoidance of show and display, partly because 
of their religious convictions in regard to formal oaths, and 
partly because the holding of certain offices might require 
them to violate their peace principles. 

Since 1889 the majority of the United Brethren in the 
Valley of Virginia have adopted the New Constitution of the 
church, which does not prohibit membership in secret societies 
and allows lay delegates to the general conference. The 
smaller number still adhere to the Old Constitution. The 
first formal conference of this denomination met in B?]tlmore 
in 1789, the church having been organized shortly before by 
the German Reformed, Philip William Otterbein, and the 
Mennonite, Martin Boehm. One or more representatives of 
the Lutherans were also found among the early leaders. The 
United Brethren are Arminian in creed, and similar to the 
T>*Iethodists in organization. They have frequently been 
termed "German Alethodists." Their first annual conference 
met at Frederick, Md., in 1800. 

In 1809, when the Baltimore Methodist Conference met for 
the second time in Harrisonburg, Christian Newcomer, who 
succeeded Otterbein and Boehm as bishop of the United 

29. For these statistics I am indebted to the kindness of Eld. 
E. B. Shaver, Maurertown, Va. 



RELIGIOUS LIFE. 131 

Brethren, was present as a commissioner to arrange for the 
union of the two churches. He was warmly received by 
Bishop Asbury and the rest, and a joint committee was pro- 
vided for to report at the next conference. The effort for 
union was continued for five years, without success as to the 
main object; but the two bodies in the meantime, as well as 
afterwards, enjoyed very intimate and cordial relations, so 
much so that they labored often in common, and extended to 
each other very generally the use of places of worship. More- 
over, many of the young members of United Brethren fam- 
ilies, who preferred the English language to the German, 
were advised to connect themselves with the Methodist 
church. Practically all of the preaching by the United 
Brethren up to the year 1820 was in German; and that lan- 
guage was clung to tenaciously by many of the older members 
of the church for a number of years following. 

Like the Mennonites and Dunkers, the United Brethren 
were uncompromisingly opposed to slavery, not only upon 
social and economic -grounds, but chiefly upon religious prin- 
ciple. Their attitude in regard to this question, together with 
their opposition to secret societies and their adherence to the 
German language, made the growth of the church slow in 
Virginia during the first half of the nineteenth century. 
When Glossbrenner, who became a prominent leader, entered 
the ministry in 1830, there were only three church houses in 
all Virginia. One of these was Whitesel's, in Rockingham 
County, which was the first erected in the State. By 1860 
the total membership in the large territory of the Virginia 
Conference, then including Maryland, did not exceed 3000. 
The' war period was a trying time. Only one church, Salem, 
a small house in western Rockingham, was erected within the 
time and territory of the Southern Confederacy. The well- 
known opposition of the United Brethren to slr.very put them 
in a class, so far at least as public opinion was concerned, with 
the hated Abolitionists; and they were in conseMUcnce visited 
with more or less of persecution and other attendant hard- 



132 the: VA1.I.E:y GERMANS. 

ships. Some of the ministers were imprisoned, some went 
north, while a few staid at their posts; but, in general, the 
pastors were driven away and the flocks were broken and 
scattered. So discouraging did conditions appear at the close 
of the war to Bishop Markwood, himself a Virginian, that he 
exclaimed, "There is no United Brethren church in Virginia." 

But the breaches were finally repaired and the waste places 
reclaimed. Under the leadership of Rev. John W. Howe 
(Dec. 4, 1829 — June 17, 1903), and to a great extent through 
his own untiring personal efforts, the old congregations were 
reorganized and new ones formed. In 1876 a church school 
was established at Dayton, in Rockingham County, and the 
success of this has contributed largely to the success of the 
church. The total membership of the Virginia Conference, 
New Constitution, is at present about 13,000; and of this num- 
ber probably more than half are to be found in the Shenan- 
doah Valley. I am informed by Prof. J. H. Ruebush, of 
Dayton, Va., that between 2700 and 2800 members live in 
Rockingham County, owning 30 churches. At the recent con- 
ference, held (March 13-18, 1907) in Edinburg, at least 22 
pastors were assigned charges in the Valley counties : In Au- 
gusta, four ; in Rockingham, seven ; in Shenandoah, two ; in 
Page, one; in Frederick, three; in Berkeley, three; and in the 
part of Morgan County, belonging naturally to the Valley, 
two. Each of these men likely has three or four different 
congregations in his charge; so that the total number of 
churches in the Valley is probably 70 or more. 

I have not succeeded in obtaining many statistics in regard 
to the adherents of the Old Constitution; but the membership 
in this branch of the church is much smaller than in the 
other. In 1905 there were in Virginia only 27 congrega- 
tions or societies.^*^ 

In concluding this chapter, it may be profitable to fix in 

30, W. H. Clay, D. D., Huntington, Ind., in a letter of January 16, 
1907. 



RELIGIOUS LIFK. 133 

concise form the leading geographical distribution of the five 
religious bodies just reviewed. Three of them, the Mennon- 
ites, Dunkers, and United Brethren, have their strongholds 
in Rockingham County; one, the Lutherans, in Shenandoah; 
and one, the Reformed, are almost equally balanced between 
Shenandoah and Rockingham. Each of the five denomina- 
tions before us, therefore, each of which is still predominantly 
German, has its stronghold, so far as the Shenandoah Valley 
is concerned, in either Rockingham or Shenandoah County. 



CHAPTER IX. 
PouTics AND War. 

In neither war nor politics have any great number of the 
Valley of Virginia Germans been eminent leaders. The bent 
of the people as a class has not been toward either of these 
forms of activity to any considerable degree, but rather to- 
ward the scholarly or financially profitable vocations of a 
peaceful life, and the fruitful seclusion of the rural commu- 
nity. The quiet virtues of home and the common duties of 
the simple citizen have seemed to charm their ambitions most. 
This is especially true during the first hundred years of their 
history, as will appear more fully as we proceed : the later 
generations have been thrusting out more and more into the 
deeper tides and the louder strifes. 

The reasons for this protracted isolation in political life 
are not difficult to find ; and when they are pointed out they 
will at once be seen to have sprung partly from the nature 
and habits of the Germans themselves, and partly from the 
conditions by which they were surrounded. 

To begin with, the German people are probably endowed 
with a constitutional reserve, an habitual conservatism. Then 
in early Virginia their language was a barrier to any exten- 
sive acquaintance outside of their own communities, and their 
manners and customs were different from those in the older 
parts of the colony. Along with these things went the inevi- 
table suspicion of race — of the one race concerning another : 
of the Germans regarding the English ; of the English re- 
garding the Germans. This race susDicion on the part of the 
English was soon accentuated, and in time raised almost to 
antipath}'^, by various things, specially by the fact that some 
of the soldiers in the British armies during the Revolutionary 
war were Germans — Hessians. As soon as this feeling 
against them was perceived by the Germans they naturally 
became more reserved. Some of them indignantly held them- 
selves aloof from contact; while a few of the weaker ones en- 



POLITICS AND WAR. 135 

deavored to hide their nationahty. The geographical loca- 
tion of the Valley of Virginia itself, hedged in as it is by high 
mountains, added the bulwarks of physical nature to the bar- 
riers of race and language, custom and feeling. Then there 
were at least two other reasons why the Valley Germans — 
particularly the older generations of them — held back from 
politics : Most of them could not hope for any wide support 
because of their well-known opposition to slavery; and many 
of them, as has been shown in the preceding chapter, con- 
scientiously refrained from political complications, as well as 
from war, because of religious conviction. 

To show how little the Germans entered, or were allowed 
to enter, into the political life of early Virginia — even of their 
own section — and at the same time to record some of the ex- 
ceptions to the rule, the following instances are cited. 

In 1734, when, upon the petition to the colonial council of 
the inhabitants west of the Blue Ridge, magistrates were ap- 
pointed in that section to settle disputes and punish offenders, 
only one of the five appointees was a German — Jost Hite; 
though it is likely that at least half of the people then in the 
Valley were Germans. On December 9, 1745, the first mag- 
istrates for Augusta County entered upon their work; but 
among the nine of them only one — Peter ScholP — appears to 
have been a German. On March 3, 1748, Jacob Hite, a son 
of Jost Hite, was appointed by Governor Gooch sheriff of 
Frederick County. His bondsmen, in the sum of one thou- 
sand pounds, were his brothers John and Isaac Hite and his 
friends Thomas Swearingen and Samuel Earle. Early in the 
year 1778, seventeen justices were appointed by Governor 
Patrick Henry for the new county of Rockingham — a county 
always predominantly German; but among the number only 

1. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, p. 47; Peyton's History of Au- 
gusta, p. 32.— Scholl lived on Smith Creek, in what is now Rocking- 
ham County. He was appointed a captain of militia in 1742. ITe 
appears to have come to Pennsylvania in 1719. Late in life he 
probably went to Kentucky. — Waddell's Scotch-Irish of the Valley, 
p. 84; Rupp's Thirty Thousand Names, p. 438. 



136 THE VAI^LEY GERMANS. 

two, Isaac Henkle and Anthony Reader, appear to have be- 
longed to that nationahty.^ 

But as time went on tlie Germans began to forge more to 
the front in the affairs of city and state, as well as in all of 
the larger interests of society. Within the first half of the 
nineteenth century, a half-dozen men who appeared in the 
courts and councils of the land won for themselves a reputa- 
tion that far exceeded local bounds. Daniel Sheffey and Jacob 
Swoope were for many years two leading figures in Augusta 
County. The latter, as has already been noted, was the first 
mayor of Staunton, being elected to that position in 1802. 
He had come to Staunton from Philadelphia in 1789. He 
spent the remainder of his life in the Valley, and acquired 
both wealth and prominence. In the Campaign of 1809 he 
was the local leader of the Federalists, and was elected to 
Congress over his competitor largely because, as Mr. Waddell 
records,^ he could speak German. This enabled him to outdo 
his rival in the canvass among the German voters. He served 
in Congress only two years, declining a reelection in 1811. 
Although many eminent men were citizens of Augusta County 
from the very beginning, yet up to the year 1841 only two, 
Jacob Swoope and A. H. H, Stuart, had ever sat in the na- 
tional Congress. 

Daniel Sheffey was one of the four great lawyers of Staun- 
ton in his day, the other three being Chapman Johnson, John 
H. Peyton, and Briscoe G. Baldwin. Sheffey was born in 
Frederick, Md., the son of a German shoemaker; and appears 
to have learned his father's trade, his mother in the meantime 
teaching him in books. Going to southwest Virginia and set- 
tling at Wytheville to pursue his trade, he attracted the in- 
terest of Judge Smyth, who let him read law in his office. 
In due time he was admitted to the bar, where he soon v/on 
distinction. Prior to the year 1810 he was elected to Con- 
gress, where he held his seat for several terms ; later he lo- 

2. Judge John Paul's Address of October 15, 189G, pp. 7, 8. 

3. Annals of Augusta, p. 383. 



POLITICS AND WAR. 137 

cated at Staunton, and for awhile represented Augusta 
County in the vState legislature. In appearance j\Iajor Shef- 
fey, as he was called, was short, stout, very near-sighted, and 
spoke with a decided German accent; yet his ability as a 
lawyer and statesman was universally acknowledged. 

Thomar, Van Swearingen and Isaac Lefller were two other 
Valley Germans who held seats in Congress within this 
period, the former from 1819 to 1822, the latter from 1827 to 
1829. 

Two other men of the period under review were Green B. 
Samuels and Isaac Samuels Pennybacker, cousins, and both 
natives of the same neighborhood in Shenandoah County. 
vSamuels was a representative in Congress from 1839 to 1841, 
and Pennybacker from 1837 to 1839. The latter was one 
of the most distinguished lawyers and politicians of his gener- 
ation. He was born at Pine Forge, September 6, 1805, and 
died in Washington City, January 12, 1847. In addition to 
his service in the house of Representatives, he was judge of 
the U. S. District Court, a regent of the Smithsonian Institu- 
tion, and, from 1845 to the time of his death, was a U. S. 
Senator from Virginia. It is said that he was offered the 
Attorney-Generalship of the United States by President Van 
Buren. 

Within the second half of the century just closed there are 
to be found a still larger group of men of German name and 
blood — a number of whom are yet living — that have won 
distinction and honor in the service of the commonwealth. 
Judge John Paul of Rockingham, whose mother came of a 
German family, was a member of Congress and a jurist of 
recognized powers.' Harrison Holt' Riddleberger of Shenan- 
doah, who was a member of the State legislature and, from 
1883 to 1889, U. S. Senator from Virginia, was a man of 
ability and influence. If one may be allowed to speak of the 
living, there are many names that might be mentioned, and 
a few that can scarcely be passed over in this connection: 
Al)salom Koiner and Marshall Hanger of Augusta, George 



138 the: VALLKY GERMANS. 

B. Keezell of Rockingham, and Holmes Conrad of Frederick, 
are all men that have won honor throughout many years of 
distinguished public service. 

It was intimated near the beginning of this chapter that the 
later generations of the Valley Germans have largely, if not 
altogether, overcome the obstacles that barred their ancestors 
almost entirely from public life. This fact has doubtless al- 
ready become sufficiently patent from the instances cited ; how- 
ever, an additional illustration may be allowed in the conclu- 
sion of this phase of the subject. This illustration is in the 
nature of a series of contrasts, and is of a general rather than 
a particular character. Its value, therefore, is regarded as 
considerable. 

From the year 1742 to the year 1776, thirty-nine men from 
the Valley counties of Virginia sat in the House of Burgesses 
and in the Virginia Conventions of 1775 and 1776;^ and of 
these thirty-nine men not more than six, or less than 15J/2 per 
cent, were Germans. Counting years of service, the latter 
have 13 in 137 — only about 9y2 per cent. From the year 
1883 to the present (1907), 22 men from the Valley counties 
have sat in the Virginia Senate ;■'' and, of these twenty-two 
men, at least eight, or over 361/3 per cent., have borne Ger- 
man names. Counting years of service, the figures stand 43 
in 103 — over 41% per cent. During the same period 68 men, 
of whom 26, or over 38 per cent., have been Germans, have 
sat in the House of Delegates.*' In period of service the 
twenty-six have had 56 years in 200, or 28 per cent. Counting 
the men from Valley counties in both houses of the Virginia 
legislature since 1883, there have been 90; and among them 
34, or nearly 38 per cent., have been of German lineage. 
These 90 men have served altogether 303 years, 99 of which, 
or 32% per cent., belong to the credit of the 34 Germans. 

The fact that one or two of the counties mcluded in this 

4. See Appendix G. 

5. See .Appendix H. 

6. Sec Appendix I. 



POLITICS AND WAR, 139 

computation are almost wholly English, in connection with 
the fact that several others are largely made up of German re- 
ligious sects that seek practically no share in politics, reduces 
the German percentage considerably ; but the figures still serve 
to illustrate the point that the German element in the Valley 
is rapidly coming into its political inheritance, whether it be 
for the better or the worse. 

In at least one of the counties practically all of the public 
officials are at present of German stock. In Rockingham, in 
the fall of 1903, the Democratic nominations for office were 
as follows : For the State Senate, George B. Keezell ; for the 
House of Delegates, H. M. Rogers and C. L. Hedrick; for 
County Treasurer, E. W. Carpenter; for Commonwealth's 
Attorney, George N. Conrad ; for Clerk of the District Court, 
D. H. Lee Martz; for Clerk of the County Court, J. S. Mes- 
serley; for Sheriff, John A. Switzer. The remarkable fact in 
the case is that all of these eight men are of German lineage 
except one — Dr. Rogers — and he confesses to a good portion 
of German blood. It may be remarked, finally, that all of 
these gentlemen were elected except one, and he was defeated 
by the small majority of twenty-five votes. It looks as if the 
people of Rockingham are trying to balance the old score with 
Governor Patrick Henry. 

In military affairs, as in political life, the Valley Germans 
have made a steady advance into prominence. A few of them, 
with a small percentage of officers of their own nationality, 
were active in the early Indian wars. In the Revolution they 
took a much more conspicuous part; and in the Civil War 
they made up the mass of fighting men from their particular 
sections, and supplied a large number of the important officers. 
Those sects that are opposed to war upon religious principle, 
consistently and steadily refused to bear arms, with very few 
exceptions ; but those who did not belong to the peace socie- 
ties, while also, no doubt, generally adverse to war, neverthe- 
less proved, when they were called upon to fight, that they 
could do it with terrible effect. 



I'iO THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Before proceeding to an orderly examination of the records 
of the several periods, it may not be out of place to catalogue 
here the names of a few men who held important military 
positions prior to the beginning of the nineteenth century. 
Peter Scholl of Augusta, who was made captain of one of the 
militia companies organized in 1742, has already been men- 
tioned. Col. Adam Stephen, of the lower Valley, was one of 
Washington's field officers in 1755. Later, he lived near Lee- 
town, Jefferson County, and was a major-general in the Revo- 
lution. Col, Ebenezer Zane (1747-1811) was a native of 
Frederick County, who in 1770 made the first permanent set- 
tlement at Wheeling, building the blockhouse known later as 
Fort Henry. He owned the land upon which the city of 
Zanesville now stands, and assisted in laying out the original 
settlement there. Captains Henry and George M. Bedinger 
were Revolutionary soldiers from the lower Valley, Col. 
John Hite and Capt, John Funk were men prominent in the 
civil and military affairs of Frederick County prior to and 
during the Revolutionary period. Major Isaac Hite (1758- 
1836) was aide to Gen. Muhlenberg at the siege of Yorktown. 
In 1781 Col. Swearingen was County Lieutenant of Berkeley. 
In 1789 Col. Jacob Rinker held the same office in Shenandoah 
County. Col. David Shepherd, of Sheperdstown, and Gen. 
Isaac Zane, of Frederick County, were other prominent figures 
in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. 

In one of the old deed books of Frederick County are some 
memoranda of a court martial held at Winchester on Tues- 
day, September 2, 1755; and following is a list of the officers 
present : The Right Honorable Thomas Lord Fairfax, 
County Lieutenant ; George William Fairfax, Colonel ; 
Thomas Bryan Martin, Lt. -Colonel; Merideth Helm, Major; 
Richard Morgin, John Funk, Jr., Jeremiah Smith, Samuel 
Odell, Jacob Funk, William Bethel, Isaac Parkin, Edward 
Rodgers, John Hardin, John Linsey, Cornelius Ruddell, Wil- 
liam Vance, Lewis Stephen, a .' John Denton, Captains. Of the 
number at least three, the Funks and Stephen, were Germans. 



POUTICS AND WAR. 141 

The seventh vohinie of Hening's Statutes contains a miH- 
tary Hst for a number of tlie counties of Virginia, showing the 
names of the men serving in the French and Indian War, 
and the respective sums paid them up to September, 1758. 
The same schedule also shows v^^hat persons furnished pro- 
visions and horses for the army, carried baggage on the ex- 
peditions, etc. Of the 39 counties covered by the schedule, 
Augusta has by far the longest list. From this county 676 
men were in the military service of the colony, and 257 per- 
sons were paid for labor, provisions, horse hire, etc. Of the 
676 soldiers, only about 136, — slightly over 20 per cent., — 
bore German names ; and among the 257 persons paid for 
provisions, etc., only about 44, or not quite 18 per cent., were 
Germans. It looks as if the proportion of Germans in Au- 
gusta at that date was rather small. At any rate, they were 
evidently as forward to serve in the army as they were to 
make money at its .expense. In the same schedule Frederick 
County ranks fourth in numerical order; and there are about 
34 German names, nearly 23 per cent., on her list of 149 sol- 
diers, and about four Germans, 25 per cent., among the 16 
persons paid for produce, etc. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution no class among the colo- 
nists was more prompt to rise in opposition to what was looked 
upon as British tyranny than the German element in Virginia. 
Their spirit was no doubt powerfully stimulated by a news- 
paper, in their own language, Der Staatshote, published at 
Phila^'elphia. This journal is said to have had many readers 
m the Shenandoah Valley. Heinrich Ringer, at Winchester, 
and Jacob Nicholas, at Peaked Mountain, were agents for the 
paper. Der Staatshote of March 19, 1776, contained a special 
appeal to its German readers, reminding them of their suffer- 
ings in Europe, and warning them that the British ministry 
and Parliament were aiming to establish similar or even worse 
conditions in America.'^ Nearly t\vo years earlier, June 16, 
1774, some of the leading citizens in the vicinity of Wood- 

7. Schuriclit's German Element, Vol. I, p. 127. 



142 THIi VALLEY GERMANS. 

stock called a public meeting, which, presided over by Pastor 
Muhlenberg, adopted spirited and patriotic resolutions. A 
committee of safety and correspondence was also appointed, 
consisting of Muhlenberg, Francis Slaughter, Abraham Bird, 
Taverner Beale, John Tipton, and Abraham Bowman.^ The 
last, shortly after the outbreak of the war, succeeded Muhlen- 
berg in command of the famous German regiment. 
Mr. Waddell, the historian of Augusta, says : 

When the war of the Revohition arose the people of the Valley 
almost to a man espoused the cause of the colonies. I have found 
only one instance of disloyalty at the beginning: of the strife. The 
person implicated was an Irish Presbyterian ex-minister, who was 
summoned before the County Committee of Augusta on October 3, 
1775. He was solemnly tried and found guilty, and the committee 
recommended that he should be. boycotted by the good people of the 
county and colony 'till he repents of his past folly.'^ 

The writer has found no like instance whatever among the 
Germans of the Valley, but one somewhat similar — even more 
serious — occurred in the section just west of Woodstock, in 
Hampshire, now Hardy, County. An old German of consider- 
able v'-ealth, Jacob Brake by name, with some of his neighbors 
of the same nationality, following the advice of John Claypole, 
a Scotchman, refused to pay taxes and serve in the militia. 
Their opposition became so grave that General Morgan was 
sent to break up the insurrection with an armed force. 
Shortly afterward a petition, signed by Jacob Brake, Adam 
Rodebaugh, Jacob Hier, Jacob Yeazle, and others, was sent 
to the Governor praying for pardon, and reciting that what 
they did was done "through ignorance, and the persuasion of 
others. "^° It is said that some of the whilom insurrection- 
ists afterward volunteered for the campaign against Corn- 
wallis. 

Among a list of nineteen names belonging to Gen. Mor- 
gan's Winchester rifle ompany in the Revolution, the follow- 

8. Schuricht's German Element, Vol. I, pp. 117, 118. 

9. Scotch-Irish of the Valley, p. 87. 

10. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. II, p. 686. 



POLITICS AND WAR. 143 

ing are German : Adam Ileiskell, George Heiskell, Fred- 
erick Kurtz, Adam Kurtz, Peter Lauck, .Simon Lauck, John 
Schultz, Jacob Sperry.^^ Howe says that Peter Lauck and 
John Schultz outHved all the rest of the band. How long they 
survived is not known; but the Government records show 
that they were both living and drawing pensions in 1835. 

In a roster of Capt. Thomas Buck's Shenandoah company, 
made at Woodstock and dated August and September, 1777, 
at least 23 German names, including that of Jacob Yost, 
second lieutenant, appear in a total of 45.^^ 

The writer, after searching vainly through various lists of 
Revolutionary soldiers for a muster roll of the 8th Virginia, 
or German Regiment, commanded at the outbreak of the 
Revolution by Muhlenberg, has recently been informed by 
Hon. James Hay, member of the House Committee on Mili- 
tary Affairs, that no roll of this regiment is preserved. This 
loss is a matter for keen regret, since such a roll would doubt- 
less preserve the names of the majority of the able-bodied 
Germans found in the Valley in 1775 and 1776; for the regi- 
ment that followed the priest turned soldier that Janua' ' day 
in the year of Independence, was not composed by any means 
exclusively of men from Shenandoah County, but included 
within its ranks many a sturdy "Dutchman" from far south- 
west, west, east, and northeast. In December of 1775 the 
Virginia Assembly passed an Act providing for the raising 
of six additional regiments, each to be composed of 680 men 
— 10 companies, 68 men in a company. One was to be called 
the German Regiment, and was to be made up of German 
and other officers and soldiers, as the military committees of 
the several counties of Augusta, West Augusta, Berkeley, Cul- 
peper, Dunmore, Fincastle, Frederick, and Hampshire, should 
judge expedient. ^3 It is related that to the call of Muhlen- 
berg's drum and fife there came seven young men from near 

11. Boogher's Gleanings, p. 171. 

12. Idem, pp. 178, 179. 

13. Hening's Statutes, Vol. 9, p. 76. 



l-i-i THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Harper's Ferry, three the sons and four the grandsons of 
old Friedrich Ladner, who had come from Wiirtemberg in 
1751. 

The history of the German Regiment needs no recital here. 
Its open record, south, and north, till the siege of Yorktown, 
and its brilliant part there, are known well enough, A few 
facts less familiar may be noted. When Muhlenberg was 
made a general in 1 777, /^Abraham Bowman of Frederick, a 
grandson of old Jost Hite, succeeded to the command. Capt. 
Abraham Hite of Hampshire, a son of Jost, was paymaster 
of the regiment from January 1, 1779, to May 12, 1780. 
Among the field officers was Maj. Peter Helfenstein, of the 
lower Valley. ""■ 

On January 25, 1781, it was reported to the colonial gov- 
ernment that the men in Berkeley County were unwilling to 
go to join Gen. George Rogers Clark, in his western cam- 
paigns; and in March following Clark himself made similar 
complaint of the militia of Frederick, Berkeley, and Hamp- 
shire.^'* How to explain such backwardness at this time is 
rather difficult, specially so in view of the heroic achievements 
of the men from the same section only two years before. 

Considering the difficulties overcome and the magnitude 
and importance of the results accomplished, in view of the 
small number of men engaged in the enterprise, Clark's 
achievement in the capture of Kaskaskia and Vincennes and 
the conquest of the Northwest in 1778-1779, stands almost 
without a parrallel in the whole field of history. One may 
therefore be justified, perhaps, when writing of the Germans 
of the Shenandoah Valley, in pointing out with some detail 
the extent to which they entered into this campaign. 

In Clark's little army was a company commanded by Leon- 
ard Helm of Fauquier, and another commanded by Joseph 
Bowman of Frederick. In the former company were likely 
a few Germans, while in the latter more than a third were of 
that nationality. Besides the Germans found in these two 

14. Palmer's Calendar, Vol. I, pp. 461, 597. 



POIJTICS AND WAR. 



145 



companies, there were evidently a few others, chiefly from 
the Shenandoah Valley and adjoining- sections. Following 
is a list of names, copied from English's Life of Clark, be- 
lieved upon good evidence to be the pay-roll of Capt. Bow- 
man's company. All the men whose names appear on this 
roll enlisted from January to May, 1778, and were discharged 
the following July and August, after the taking of Kaskaskia; 
but a number of them appear to have re-entered the service 
for the rest of the campaign. 



Capt. Joseph Bowman 

1st Lt. Isaac Bowman 

2d Lt. Abram Kellar - 

Ser. Daniel Dust 

Ser. Isaac Kellar 

Ser. Jacob Speers 

Michael Setzer 

Abraham Miller 

Wm. Slack 
*Ligey Huste 
*Thomas Perry 
*Robt. McClanihan 
* Barney Master 

John Setser 

John Bentley 

Henry Honaker 

Fred. Honaker 

Henry Funk 

Geo. Livistone 

Henry Chrisman 

Samuel Stroud 

Edward Bulger 

Abram James 

Alex. Mclntire 

Philip Orben 

*Deserted. 
—10 



^homas Clifton 

Avilliam Berrey [1] 
Barnabay Walters 
Wm. McGumrey 
Jacob Cogar 
Peter Cogar 
Thos, H. Vance 
James Bentley 

*George Millar 
Patrick Doran 
Henry Traylar 
Isaac McBride 
Edward Murrey 
Joseph Simson 
Philip Long 
George King 
Joseph Pangrass 
Francis Pangrass 
Michael Pangrass 
Charles McClock 

*Nathan Cartmill 

*James Gouday 

*Samuel Dust 

*William Berrey [2] 

*Zebeniah Lee 



146 



THE VALI^EY GERMANS. 



In this list of 49 names there are about 18 — over 36 per 
cent. — that are borne by Virginia Germans, chiefly of the 
lower Valley. 

For their services with Clark in the conquest of the North- 
west, a large proportion of his soldiers were rewarded with 
allotments of land. In a list of 300 men who received land 
the 21 following names are found: 



/Maj. Joseph Bowman 
■v Capt. Abraham Kellar 
Lt. Isaac Bowman 
Ensign Jacob Vanmeter 
- Sen Isaac Kellar 
Ser. Buckner Pittman 
Ser. Wm. Rubey ■ 
Ser. Samuel Strode 
Henry Funk 
Henry Honaker 
Peter Honal<er 



John Isaacs 
Wm. Myers 
John Peters 
Wm. Ruby 
Geo. Shepard 
Peter Shepard 
John Sitzer 
Michael Sitzer 
Van Swearingen 
Isaac Vanmeter 



A number of others who were officers and privates with 
Clark in some of his campaigns did not have their claims for 
land allowed. Among a large number of such were the fol- 
lowing : 



Ser. John Breeden 
Ser. John Hant (killed) 
Ser. Conrad Workman 
Matross Philip Hupp 
John Bender [Painter] 
Lewis Bender (died) 
Robert Bender 
Christian Bowman 
Peter Brazer 
Richard Breeden 
" John Bush - 
-- Drewry Bush 



Wm. Chick (killed) 
John Conn [Kahn] 
Christopher Coontz 
Jacob Detering 
Lewis Fache 
James Hildebrand 
Geo. Hite 
Francis Hollen^ 
Fred. Sowers 
Peter Veale 
Thomas Vonshiner 
Fred. Zimmerman^^ 



15. English's Life of Clark, Vol. II, pp. 839-850; 1060-1006. 



POLITICS AND WAR. 14T 

/ Practically all of the names in the two lists just given are 
borne by German or Dutch families that have been in the 
Valley for the last century and a half. 

Before leaving this phase of our subject a word more should 
be said concerning Major Joseph Bowman. ' He was a son 
of George Bowman, who married Mary Hite, one of Jost 
Kite's daughters, and who was one of the original settlers 
with Hite in the lower Valley in 1732. He had three broth- 
ers : Col. Abram Bowman, who succeeded Muhlenberg in 
command of the German regiment ; John ; and Isaac, who was 
also an officer under Gen. Clark in the Illinois campaign. 
Maj. Joseph Bowman was second in command to Clark, and 
performed distinguished services; but he did not live to re- 
turn from the. expedition that has made him and his comrades 
famous. He died at Fort Sackville, August 15 or 18, 1779. 

In 1835 there were living in the counties of Frederick, 
Page, Rockingham, and Shenandoah 172 men who had been 
soldiers in the Revolution, and who were drawing pensions. 
At least 69 of them, or upwards of 40 per cent., bore German 
names. The whole number were distributed in the several 
counties as follows : In Frederick, 86, of whom 29, nearly 
34 per cent, were Germans; Page, 7, of whom 3 were Ger- 
mans; Rockingham, 36, with at least 20 Germans — over 55, 
per cent.; Shenandoah, 43, with 17 Germans — nearly 40 per 
cent.^^ 

Not very much information has been found regarding the 
Valley of Virginia men in the War of 1812; but a few names 
of prominent officers of the period are at hand. Capt. Abra- 
ham Lange and Capt. John C. Sowers, both from Staunton 
or its vicinity, were well-known leaders, the latter belonging 
to the artillery service. Henry Snyder served with Capt. 
Sowers, and was the chief drummer of Augusta County for 
many years. William Suthardt and George Orebaugh were 
his assistants, i Col. — Koontz and Capt. John Link were also 

16. See Appendixes L, M, N, O. 



148 THE) VALLEY GERMANS. 

Augusta soldiers of the same period. In Rockingham, Col. 
Peter Roller, born in 1795, was a militia officer in the early- 
part of last century. In Shenandoah County nearly all of the 
prominent civil and military leaders of the time appear to have 
been Germans, among whom were Col. Samuel Bare, Capt. 
George vShrum, Col. Philip Spengler, and Capt. Solomon 
Spengler. 

In coming to the Civil War, I cannot introduce the Virginia 
German soldiers of the period better than by quoting the 
words of one who is a recognized authority on the subject. 

The men of Pennsylvania-German descent who fought in the 
Southern armies are not ashamed of the part we took in that war. 
We do not feel that we are any discredit to the race from which we 
spring, and it is affirmed with confidence, that when the history shall 
have been written of the part borne by the sons of the Pennsylvania- 
German element in the Confederate armies, there will be no brighter 
page in the records of this Society than that. 

In the famous Pickett's charge, his men were commanded by at 
least two brigadier generals, who were Virginia soldiers of German 
descent. The North Carolina troops were commanded in many 
instances by soldiers of the same stock. One family alone is said 
to have furnished as many as five general ofificers to the Southern 
Army. Another family furnished two or more, and there were other 
families of German blood, that furnished individual soldiers who 
were equally distinguished. ^^ 

Among the alumni of the Virginia Military Institute, who 
gaves their lives to Virginia in the struggle from '61 to '65, 
were the following men from Valley German families : Col. 
John F. Neff, Capt. Wm. Keiter, Capt. E. S. Trout, Capt. 
Ramsay Koontz, Lt. Thomas L. Harman, and Lt. Chas. E. 
Lauck. 

It has already been shown in a preceding chapter that 
over 50 per cent, of the 671 men from Rockingham, Shenan- 
doah, Warren, and Page, composing the Tenth Regiment 
• Virginia Volunteer Infantry, bore German names ; and that 
the same is true of nearly 68 per cent, of 124 men from Rock- 

17. Gen. John E. Roller, in an address at Lebanon, Pa., Oct. 22, 
1903, before the Pennsylvania-German Society. 



POLITICS AND WAR. 149 

ingham who formed one of the companies of Ashby's cavalry. 
And these are by no means exceptional instances, but they 
may be taken as fairly representing the other bodies of men 
from the same and adjacent sections. The Tenth Legion 
Artillery, commanded by Capt. M. M. Sibert, which was or- 
dered to Charlestown in 1859 to attend the execution of John 
Brown, enrolled at least 20 German names in 41. Of 75 men, 
officers and privates, from New Market and vicinity, compos- 
ing Co. B, 3d Regiment, 7th Brigade, C. S. A. Vol. Militia, 
no less than 50 were from German families. On September 
7, 1906, there was held near New Market a reunion of Con- 
federate veterans, which was attended by 185 men from Shen- 
andoah and adjoining counties, representing various com- 
mands. Old soldiers who followed Jackson, Ashby, Mosby, 
Imboden, Rosser, and others were there, and their names were 
printed in the Shetiandoah Valley of September 27, 1906. An 
inspection of the list shows that nearly 70 per cent, belong to 
such familiar German families as the following: Zirkle, 
Schaeffer, Henkel, Foltz, Bowman, Miller, Hoover, Bowers, 
Neff, Moomaw, Snapp, Zehring, Bellinger, etc. 

The famous Stonewall Brigade may be termed, not inaptly, 
the Old Guard of the South. Its record is familiar to the 
world; but it may not be generally known that a large pro- 
portion of the men, from the Valley of Virginia and adjacent 
sections, who composed it, were of German lineage. The 
complete muster rolls have not been gone over; but, in view 
of the facts already presented, the proposition just advanced 
may be satisfactorily established by giving the names of some 
of the officers of the brigade, and showing that several of 
the regiments composing it were raised in sections of the 
Valley where the German element is strong. 

The Stonewall Brigade was made up of the following 
bodies of men : The 2d, 4th, 5th, 27th and 33d Regiments, 
Virginia Infantry; the Rockbridge Artillery, and Carpen- 
ter's Battery. The 2d Regiment was composed of two com- 
panies (D and E) from Berkeley County; two (C and I) 



150 THE VAI.I.EY GERMANS. 

from Clarke County; one (F) from Winchester; and five 
(A, B, G, H, and K) from Jefferson County. The 4th Regi- 
ment was made up in the southwest Virginia counties of 
Wythe, Pulaski, Smyth, Montgomery, and Marion. The 5th 
Regiment was composed of companies from Augusta County 
and one (Co. K) from Winchester. The 27th Regiment 
was from the counties of Monroe, Grayson, Alleghany, 
and Rockbridge. The 33d Regiment was composed as 
follows : Co. A, from Hampshire County ; Co. B, lower 
Shenandoah County; Co. C, Woodstock and vicinity; Co. D. 
western part of Frederick; Co. E, New Market and 
vicinity; Co. F, Hardy County; Co. G, Mt. Jackson and 
vicinity; Co. H, Page County; Co. I, Rockingham County; 
Co. K, Columbia Furnace and vicinity, in western Shenan- 
doah. It will be observed, therefore, that the 33d Regiment 
was raised wholly in the heart of the German settle- 
ments ; the 5th in Augusta and Frederick, where German 
families are numerous; and the 2d chiefly in Frederick, 
Berkeley, and Jefferson, where the German element is 
considerable. It is likely, moreover, that a few Germans were 
found in the other regiments, and in the artillery companies. 

A glance at the names of some of the German officers in 
the Stonewall Brigade must conclude this particular division 
of our study. The fourth colonel in command of the 2d Reg- 
iment was J. Q. A. Nadenbousch. The 5th Regiment had 
upon its list of commanders Col. J. H. S. Funk and Col. Wm. 
H. Harman. Major Absalom Koiner, Adjutant James Bum- 
gardner, and Adjutant C. J. Arnalt belonged to the same 
regiment. The commanders of the 33d Regiment were Cols. 
A. C. Cummings, John F. NefT,^« F. W. M. Holliday, Edwin 

18. Col. John Francis Nefif, born Sept. 5, 18.-54, near Mt. Jackson, 
was the oldest son of Eld. John Neff, a prominent minister of the 
Dunker church. After graduating at V. M. I., young Neff studied 
law under Judge J. W. Brokenbrough. Admitted to the bar, he en- 
tered upon the practice of his profession in New Orleans; later at 
Baton Rouge; later still at Memphis, where he remained till the 



POLITICS AND WAR. 151 

G. Lee, and Abraham Spengler. Neff and Spengler were 
Germans, as was also Maj. Jacob B, Golliday. Among the 
captains of the same regiment were the following: John H, 
Grabill (Co. B) ; M. M. Sibert, George Bedinger, and Tho- 
mas E. Conn (Co. E) ; Abraham Spengler (Co. F) ; David 
B. Huffman (Co. G) ; and — Shiiler (Co. H).i» The names 
of the captains in the other regiments are not at hand. 

It is said that the Pennybacker family, largely represented 
in the Valley, furnished more soldiers in the Civil War than 
any other family, — two major-generals being among the num- 
ber. Not all of the soldiers bearing this name were from Vir- 
ginia, however; and not all fought on one side. The Ladner 
incident of the Revolution is recalled and more than paralleled, 
at least in point of numbers, by the Engle family, from the 
same vicinity : thirteen Engles from the lower Valley served 
in the Confederate armies ; one as a chaplain ; two as captains 
of cavalry ; two as quartermasters ; two as infantry lieuten- 
ants; and six as troopers. The Pittmann family also, like 
many others that space forbids naming, have a military rec- 

outbreak of the war. Then he came to Virginia, and was made 
Adjutant of the 33d Regiment. At the first battle of Manassas he 
won special distinction. In the spring of 1862 he succeeded Col. 
Cummings in command of the regiment, which he led after Jackson 
in the famous Valley campaign, winning particular notice at Port 
Republic. After the Seven Days' Battle around Richmond, while 
Jackson's corps was at Gordonsville, Gen. Winder, owing to a mis- 
understanding, put Col. Neff under arrest. In the battle of Cedar 
Mountain, shortly afterward, being still under arrest, he went into 
the thick of the battle without his sword. It was not long until 
he was acquitted of the charges against him, and was restored to 
his command. At the second battle of Manassas he was not well, 
and went to the front against the surgeon's advice. While leading 
his regiment in a charge, or in repulsing the countercharge, he was 
shot dead. He is said to have been the youngest regimental com- 
mander in the Stonewall Brigade. 

19. For helpful information regarding the Stonewall Brigade, I 
gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to Maj. R. W. Hunter, of 
Richmond. 



]52 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

ord, as the following concise statement, concluding this chap- 
ter, will show. 

Lawrence Pittman had ten grandsons in the Confederate army. 
Philip Pittman, his oldest son, at tlie age of 16 served in the War 
of 1812; and, in 1861, at the age of 64, enlisted in the Confederate 
army, taking with him his youngest son, just 16 years old. The last 
year of the struggle his friends implored him to come home and be 
a candidate for the Virginia Senate. His reply was that the army 
had no soldiers to spare, but if they wished to elect him they could 
do so; but he would remain in the army until officially notified of 
his election. He was elected, but remained at his post until the 
Senate convened. 20 

20. Miss Mary C. Pittman, of The Plains, Va., in a letter of Nov. 
6, 1902. 



CHAPTER X. 
Educational' AND Literary Activities. 

That the Germans of the Shenandoah Valley of Virg^inia 
should be entirely unmindful of schools and of books, even 
during their early struggles as pioneers, could hardly be imag- 
ined in view of their antecedent training in Pennsylvania. 
Prior to 1697, Koster, a religious leader of provincial Penn- 
sylvania, and his followers printed in "High Dutch" the first 
book published in the German language in America.^ In 
1728 Conrad Beissel, the mystic, issued his first volume 
through the German printer's art.^ From 1738 to 1778 — a 
period of forty years — the two Dunkers, Christopher Sower, 
Sr., and Christopher Sower, Jr., sent out from their publishing 
house at Germantown innumerable books, pamphlets, news- 
papers, and almanacs : the last having a circulation from New 
York to Georgia. In 1739 they started the first German 
newspaper in America — Dcr Hoch-Deutsch Pennsylvanische 
Gcschicht-Schrcihcr ; and in 1743 they sent out from their 
press the first Bible in a European tongue published in 
America.^ The German Reformed and Lutherans of colonial 
Pennsylvania are said to have provided schools as soon as 
churches, and sometimes schoolmasters before regular 
pastors.^ 

Whether the immigrants called themselves Pietists, Mennonites, 
Dunkers, Moravians, German Quakers, members of the Reformed 
Church, Lutherans, or simply dissenters, and however greai thei*- 
differences of opinion in the interpretation of the Bible may have 

1. Sachse's German Pietists, pp. 266, 276. 

2. Seidensticker's First Century of German Printing, p. 6. 

3. Brumbaugh's History of the Brethren, pp. 338-437; Kuhns' 
German and .Swiss Settlements, pp. 11.5-152. 

4. Kuhns' German and Swiss Settlements, pp. 143, 144. 



15-J: THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

been, on one point at least they were united. They all believed 
with Martin Luther: 

"Burgomasters, princes, and nobles we can dispense with; schools 
can not be dispensed with, for they must govern the world. "^ 

The great number of German books still to be found in the 
Valley of Virginia to-day — Sower Bibles, Testaments, Psalm 
books, hymn books, almanacs, etc., — show that when the 
families moved to this section from' Pennsylvania they 
brought books with them and had others, with current peri- 
odicals, to follow them. It was quite natural, therefore, that 
they should also establish schools, and educate their children. 
Men of wealth sometimes made provision during their life- 
time or in their wills for the maintenance of schools. I am in- 
formed by Miss Sarah M. Spengler of Front Royal, Va., 
that Peter Stover, the founder of Strasburg, was one of this 
number. He donated a liberal amount of money, and also 
some land, for use in educational purposes in Strasburg. 

As a case in evidence of the literacy of the early Germans 
of the Valley, Mr. Charles E. Kemper, of Washington City, 
cites the following instance : The records of the Pealced Moun- 
tain church, which was locat- d in v;hat is now Rockingham 
County, show an agreement made in 1768 between the Lu- 
therans and German Reformed, to build a union house of 
worship; and, of the forty-eight men who signed this agree- 
ment, only four made their marks.** 

The writer, in a rather extensive examination of the various 
county records, has found that a considerable number of the 
old German landholders could not write their names : at least 
they did not write them. It is likely, however, that some who 
made their marks did so not because they could not write, but 
because the indenture was written for them' in English; and 
so, rather than sign in German to an English instr-ument, 

5. Report of Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. I, p. 539. See 
also Rupp's Thirty Thousand Names, pp. 13, 14. 

6. Virginia Magazine, Vol. XITI, No. 3, pp. 287, 288; William and 
Mary College Quarterly, Vol. XITI, pp. 248, 249. 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. 155 

they made their marks. It is probable that in the great major- 
ity of cases, when the instrument was drawn in German, it 
was also signed in German by the maker, without a mark. 
When all explanations are done, however, it will still doubt- 
less be necessary to admit that some of our German great- 
grandfathers — and many more of our great-grandmothers — 
could not write. But the same is also true of at least a few 
of their English contemporaries. Their illiteracy was the 
fault of their day and generation, rather than of any individ- 
ual, class, or nationality. 

Granting, then, that some — a few — of the German pioneers 
were illiterate, we may still claim what appears to be the truth, 
that most of them could at least read and write. Some of 
them could do much more. All of them, with scarcely an 
exception, wanted to educate their children. And so they built 
schoolhouses as rapidly as, and often side by side with, their 
churches, and provided teachers. Indeed, they must often 
have had the schoolrooms in their dwelling houses, just as 
they often met for worship there, before they had either 
churches or schoolhouses. 

Most of the education of those early days, however, doubt- 
less was, as has been intimated, of an elementary sort: many 
of the pupils never got beyond a "speaking acquaintance" 
with the first three handmaids of knowledge; and very few 
reached the first stages of what would now be called higher 
education. This, too, was chiefly the fault of the' time. 
Rather, it was an unwelcome necessity imposed by circum- 
stances. When men and women undertake to conquer the 
wilderness and plant civilization in the face of savage enemies, 
they must forego for awhile many of the things that belong 
to civilization and make it desirable. Felling forests, grub- 
bing stumps, ploughing virgin soil tightly tangled with 
roots, and preserving scalps in the place assigned them by 
nature, become duties of such strenuous and presistent sort 
as usually to crowd out the extensive reading and writing of 
books. 



156 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

There have been other conditions, moreover, found in tlie 
later stages of the Valley settlements, — conditions not im- 
posed by the hard necessities of pioneer life, — that retarded 
for a considerable period the full development of letters. 
Among certain of the religious bodies, particularly the Bunk- 
ers and Mennonites, higher education was long looked upon 
with more or less suspicion, and accordingly was either actu- 
ally opposed or generally neglected. But these conditions, 
happily, during the last generation or two have been under- 
going a change, as will appear more fully farther on ; and 
both of these denominations seem now endeavoring to emu- 
late their earliest leaders, most of whom were men of exact 
learning and broad culture. 

The educational and literary activities of the Valley Ger- 
mans will now be reviewed more specifically, in chronological 
order for the most part, under two heads : first, the establish- 
ment of schools, academies, and colleges ; second, printing and 
publishing centers. 

When and where the first school of advanced grade was 
established, is not known. The date, however, would certainly 
take us back more than a hundred years. In the year 1806 a 
school was begun at New Market, in Shenandoah County, by 
the German Lutherans and Reformed, in connection with the 
church. The scheme for the institution is reported to have 
embraced some of the higher branches of study, as well as the 
elementary grades and subjects. How long this school was 
continued is not known ; but the project met with early opposi- 
tion, and probably was soon abandoned. The difficulty seems 
to have arisen between the German and English elements in 
the congregation: the latter apparently objected to having 
part of the church lot given up to the use of a school that 
promised to be exclusively German. A school similar to the 
one at New Market was established at Harper's Ferry, prob- 
ably at about the same period.'^ 

7. Schuricht's German Element, Vol. II, p. 48. 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. 15T 

On February 21, 1817, an Act was passed by the General 
Assembly of Virginia, incorporating Woodstock Academy, 
with the following thirteen gentlemen as trustees : Philip 
Miller, Jacob Ott, Joseph Irwin, Robert Gaw, Philip Wil- 
liams, Martin Hupp, John S. Ball, George Fravell, Roberf 
Turner, Michael Effinger, Joseph Arthur, Jacob Rinker, Jr., 
and James Allen. All of these men were prominent and in- 
fluential in the important affairs of Shenandoah County, and 
six of them represented German families ; but what success 
attended this educational enteiprise has not been ascertained. 

Upon the same date that Woodstock Academy was char- 
tered, the Assembly also incorporated New Market Academy. 
The trustees named were, Samuel Coofman, Patrick Mc- 
Manus, Jacob D. Williamson, John Strayer, William Steen- 
bergen, Solomon Henkel, Gilbert Meem, Samuel Huston, 
James Brown, Francis Sybert, Alexander Doyle, and John 
Morgan. Of the twelve, at least four, Coofman, Steenber- 
gen, Henkel, and Sybert, were Germans. 

Another early beginning in higher education — a movement 
of special significance — must be credited to New Market. In 
1820 Rev. S. S. Schmucker, a young man of twenty-one, a 
graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, became pastor 
of the Lutheran congregation, and continued in that capacity 
till 1825. During his pastorate he conceived the idea of 
founding a sort of pro-seminary; and, in 1823, he began his 
career as theological professor. The building in which he 
taught, though removed from its original site, is still stand- 
ing; and some of his pupils became men of eminence and 
power in the church at large. Dr. Schmucker's New Market 
school, begun in 1823, gradually led to the founding of Get- 
tysburg Seminary, in which he became the first professor.^ 

Only three years after Dr. Schmucker made his modest 
though fruitful beginning at New Market, a mere pretentious 
movement was organized and put in operation a few miles 

8. The Shenandoah Valley, Supplement, July 28, 1904. 



158 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

west of the village. On February 18, 1826, an Act was 
passed by the General Assembly of Virginia, incorporating 
an institution known as Rockingham Academy, with the nine 
gentlemen whose names follow as trustees : Samuel Moffett, 
William McMahon, Samuel Newman, Andrew Moffett, Isaac 
Thomas, Peter Crim, John Hoover, Joseph Cline, and Samuel 
Hoover. The next year, 1827, or possibly the same in which 
the charter was granted, the school was put in operation, and 
it has continued, with occasional brief interruptions, until the 
present, though never at any time have the courses of study 
been more than partly devoted to advanced work. The site 
of the school is on the east side of the Little Shenandoah 
River, in Rockingham County, near the Shenandoah County 
line, and about midway between New Market and Timber- 
ville. The name "Rockingham Academy" has long been out 
of use, and the place is now called "The Plains." The origi- 
nal building was a log house, v/ith a single room 22x28 feet. 
This structure was removed in 1857, and in its place was 
erected the present building — a double one-story house, one 
part of which is used for the school, the other as a church. 
The original trustees were members of the Primitive Baptist 
and the Dunker denominations ; and their descendants still 
hold the property, though the number of trustees has been 
increased to thirteen, and most of them at present bear Ger- 
man names. About half of them belong to the Dunker 
church, several to the Lutheran, and probably one or more to 
other denominations; but the Primitive Baptist element has 
apparently been merged into other forms almost entirely. 
The church room of the building is free to all denominations ; 
but the Mennonites and Dunkers are allowed precedence on 
the third and fourth Sundays, respectively, of each month. 
The present trustees of the one-time Rockingham Academy 
are the following gentlemen : John F. Driver, David J. Dri- 
ver, S. H. Moffett West, David S. Roller, C. Newton Wine 
(lately deceased), Gilbert L. White, Henry M. Henkel, John 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. 159 

H. Hoover, Frank Alexander, Cornelius Driver, Samuel L. 
Hoover, B. F. A. Myers, and Jacob B. Garber.'"* 

In 1837, March 22, an Act was passed chartering Front 
Royal Academy, in Warren County; and among the fourteen 
trustees were Edward B. Jacobs and Newman M. Jacobs, 
both prol)ably of German descent. 

In 1853 an institution was incorporated at Salem, Va., 
Roanoke County, as Roanoke College, and as successor to 
the Virginia Institute. This school, though within the bounds 
of the Valley of Virginia, is outside the geographical limits 
of the Shenandoah Valley; nevertheless a brief notice of it is 
included here for the reason that it is largely patronized by 
the German families in the valley of the Shenandoah. It is an 
institution under the direction of the Lutheran church; and 
naturally many — perhaps most — of the sons of Lutheran 
families, who attend college from the Shenandoah Valley, go 
to Roanoke. Moreover, its convenient nearness and the 
facility with which it may be approached, make it an institu- 
tion of the section under review almost as much as if it were 
actually located therein. Roanoke College remained open 
during the Civil War, though without endowment. Within 
recent years a liberal endowment and a library of 22,000 vol- 
umes have been acquired, and the' institution has had an en- 
couraging developement. In addition to the regular college 
courses, which are partly elective, preparatory and commer- 
cial courses are offered. The attendance in 1906 was 202, 
representing 13 States and two foreign countries; and the 
faculty consists of 12 professors and instructors.^" During 
the last ten years a gradually increasing number of women 
have been admitted as special students ; so that at present the 
school may be termed co-educational. An appropriate and 
commendable attitude toward local history and biography is 

9. For information regarding the later history of Rockingham 
Academy, I am indebted to Mr. John W. Grim, of Timberville, Va. 

10. New International Encyclopedia, Vol. XV, p. 59; Fifty-third 
Annual Catalogue. 



160 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

being manifested by the faculty, who occasionally assign to 
graduating students for discussion in theses such subjects as 
the German Immigration into Virginia, the German Element 
in the Valley, etc. At least two such subjects have been as- 
signed within the last two or three years; but as yet the pres- 
ent writer has not enjoyed the privilege of seeing either of 
the resulting compositions. 

On February 20 and April 7, 1858, the Virginia Assembly 
passed Acts granting corporate rights to John K. Booton, 
William C. Lauck, and A. C. Booton for establishing and 
maintaining a school in Page County, to be known as the 
Luray Institute. Mr. I.auck was evidently a German. The 
capital stock of the enterprise was not to exceed $25,000; and 
the school was to be a seminary for both men and women, and 
was empowered to grant diplomas, confer degrees, etc. The 
further history of the institution is not known. 

In 1870, in Shenandoah County, was established a school 
for higher learning: the New Market Polytechnic Institute, 
which enjoyed a notable and influential career for twenty-six 
years. This institution was not founded or maintained ex- 
clusively by any particular sect or nationality; and yet one 
may doubtless assert with truth and justice that the German 
families of the town and community — specially the German 
Lutherans — did most to foster it and make possible its high de- 
velopment in scholastic fields. The most famous master of the 
school — probably the most distinguished teacher of the Shen- 
andoah Valley — was the self-made man, scholar, teacher, and 
poet, Joseph Salyards (1808-1885), whose career as a teacher 
extended over more than half a century. Prior to the found- 
ing of the Polytechnic Institute, he had gained a wide reputa- 
tion in the New Market Academy. Salyards was not a 
German, but he was affiliated mainly with the Valley Ger- 
mans, and did a lasting work among them. Numerous and 
prominent among the disciples that sat at his feet, the friends 
that bore him to the grave, and the organization that raised a 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. 161 

stone to mark his tomb, were men descended from that 
nationaHty. 

Sometime prior to the year 1885, Rev. J. I. Miller, a Lu- 
theran minister, organized at Staunton a female academy, 
which w'as maintained with excellent results to tlie Lutherans 
and others for a number of years, but which at the present is 
not in operation. 

Three other educational mstitutions, founded, fostered, and 
successfully maintained through the initiative of three German 
religious bodies of the Shenandoah Valley, yet demand our 
notice under this head. 

In 1875, at Dayton, Rockingham County, a school was or- 
ganized by some leading spirits of the United Brethren de- 
nomination. From a small attendance and unpretentious 
claims the institution soon grew to larger proportions and 
wider influence. The second year (1876) property was pur- 
chased and the school was chartered as the Shenandoah Sem- 
inary; in 1879 it was rechartered and the name changed to 
vShenandoah Institute; since 1902 it has been known as the 
Shenandoah Collegiate Institute and School of Music. Al- 
though it is under the direction and control of the religious 
bod}'- above named, and draws its patronage largely if not 
chiefly from the same body, the institution endeavors to avoid 
sectarianism while inculcating Christian principles ; and 
neither wealth nor social rank is allowed to antagonize the 
more essential qualities in the making of a man. The school 
is coeducational, and offers numerous and varied courses of 
study in letters, music, and commercial branches. Religious 
and athletic organizations have a prominent place. Three 
commodious buildings provide lecture rooms, literary society 
halls, offices, dormitories, etc. In 1906 the number of stu- 
dents in attendance from Virginia and other States was 192, 
and the faculty was made up of 13 professors and in- 
structors.^^ 

11. Thirtieth Annual Catalogue. 
—11 



162 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

In the fall of 1880, Daniel C. Flory of Augusta County, 
Virginia, who had been a student at the University of Vir- 
ginia from 1875 to 1878, started in Rockingham County a 
school known as the Spring Creek Normal School, The next 
year it was expanded into Jthe Spring Creek Normal School 
and Collegiate Institute. In the autumn of 1882 the institu- 
tion was moved to Bridgewater, and was called the Virginia 
Normal School; in April, 1889, the charter was so amended 
as to allow the name Bridgewater College to be assumed, and 
this name has remained unchanged to the present. The in- 
stitution is coeducational, and is owned and chiefly supported 
by the German Baptist Brethren, or Dunkers; but endeavors 
to pursue an unprejudiced and liberal course in the promotion 
of broad scholarship and in the building of moral character; 
and it has in consequence always commanded a hearty confi- 
dence and generous support among the best families of the 
Valley, irrespective of religious affiliation. The school owns 
six good buildings, and is provided with one of the best 
athletic fields in the State. Special and varied opportunities 
for Bible study and spiritual development are afforded. In 
1906 the number of students in attendance, representing seven 
States, was 201 ; and the number of teachers was fourteen.^" 

Massanutten Academy is located at the southwest approach 
to the historic old town of Woodstock; and the main build- 
ing was formerly the residence of U. S. Senator H. H. Rid- 
dleberger. The school was chartered and opened to students 
in 1899, and is under the supervision of the Virginia Classis 
of the Potomac Synod of the Reformed Church, although one 
or two other religious denominations are represented on the 
board of trustees, and sectarian tendencies are studiously 
avoided. The faculty consists of nine professors and assist- 
ants; and the number of students in 1906 was 7Z, mainly 
from Virginia. ^^ 

12. Twenty-sixth Annual Catalogue; Bridgewater College, Its Past 
and Present, pp. 8-85. 

13. Seventh Annual Catalogue. 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. 163 

P'rom this sketch of the leading movements for higher 
learning, let us pass to a similar review of the chief publishing 
centers of the German element of the Valley. 

Of the live places in Virginia, as catalogued by Prof. Os- 
wald Seidensticker, where German printing was carried on 
prior to 1830, four — Winchester, New Market, Staunton, and 
Harrisonburg — are in the Shenandoah Valley. In 1805 a 
German almanac was issued from Winchester by Jacob D. 
Dietrich; in 1807 a newspaper was started at New Market; 
in 1808 one was started at Staunton; beginning a few years 
later, and continuing for nearly a generation, a series of Ger- 
man publications — books, pamphlets, etc. — came from the 
Wartmann press at Harrisonburg. In addition to these four 
early centers of German influence through the printing press, 
there have been in the Valley at least two others that shall 
receive due notice. 

Dietrich's almanac, distributed from Winchester in 1805, 
was probably the first publication in the German language 
made in Virginia; though Seidensticker thinks it possible that 
this almanac was printed somewhere in Maryland. The next 
year, Ambrose Henkel established his printing office at New 
Market; and the year following (1807: not 1808, as Seiden- 
sticker says) he began the publication of the first German 
newspaper ever printed in Virginia.^'* 

Ambrose Henkel, the fourth son of Rev. Paul Henkel and 
his wife Elizabeth, was born in Shenandoah County, Virginia, 
near Solomon's Church, 8 miles northwest of New Market, 
July^ll, 1786. In 1802, at the age of 16, he set out, on foot, 
for Hagerstown, Md. There, with Gruber, the famous alma- 
nac man, and at Reading and Baltimore, he worked at the 
printing business for three or four years; then he purchased 
an outfit for himself: the bed and irons of a Ramage press 
and some old type: and in 1806, as above shown, he estab- 
lished the first printing office at New Market. He continued 

14. Seidensticker's First Century of German Printing, p. 173; Schu- 
richt's German Element, Vol. II, p. 13. 



164: THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

his work as printer and engraver till 1817, when he sold out 
the business to his brother Solomon. In 1823 he entered the 
Gospel ministry of the Lutheran church, wherein he labored 
till his death in 1870.*^ The Henkel press has continued in 
operation, and has remained in the Henkel family. Last year 
(1906) it rounded out a century of history; and, with in- 
creased facilities and modern equipment, it is to-day in the 
hands of two of Rev. Ambrose Henkel's great-nephews : Am- 
brose L. and Elon O. Henkel. By the kindness of these 
gentlemen the writer was recently enabled to examine a file 
of the old newspaper that was started by Ambrose Henkel in 
1807. Inasmuch as it was the first of its kind in the Old 
Dominion, it has much interest and historical value, and hence 
a rather detailed account of it may be acceptable. 

The title of the paper in question was, Dcr Virginische 
Volksherichter, Und.Ncumarkctcr W ochcnschrift : translated 
by Rev. Socrates Henkel, D. D., as follows: ''Virginia and 
Nezv Market Popular histructor and Weekly Neivs." 

It is made up in the ordinary four-page form, with three 
columns on a page; and each page is about ten inches wide, 
and about fifteen inches from top to bottom. At the top of 
the front page, above the title of the paper, is a cut of the 
American Eagle, keeping in his charge the American motto, 
B Phirihus Unum. Artistically disposed among the large 
lettering of the title, is found the following patriotic declara- 
tion : Ich bin dcm Patriot, Religion and Warhcit treii; fdnd 
ich audi iveder Gold noch Brod noch Bhr dabey. Mr. Henkel 
was at this time just twenty-one years old. For the preserva- 
tion of chronological order and for the promotion of business 
conveniences, the following statements were also printed as 
part of the regular heading: Bin Thaler des Yahrs. * * * 
Vier Cents Binseln* * * Mitzvochs, den 7 ten October, IS07. 
* * * Neumarket, Schenandoah County, Virginien, alle Mit- 
woch herausgegeben von Ainbrosias Henkel. 

15. Henkel's History of the Tennessee Synod, pp. 185, 186. 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. J-65 

The first number seems to have been intended and used as 
a prospectus. It was dated, as just shown, October 7, 1807, 
and was labeled thus: Band I, Num. o. The first number of 
the weekly series, Band I, Num. i, did not appear till ten 
weeks later, Dec. 16, 1807. From that date the Volk.s- 
bericJitcr seems to have been issued regularly at weekly inter- 
vals till June 7, 1809. At that time, or shortly afterward, 
the publication was suspended, chiefly for the want of adver- 
tising" patronage. A rather pathetic sequel to that generous 
declaration of youthful enthusiasm, burning with a desire for 
the common welfare! There may be no occasion for mention- 
ing in this connection a rather conspicuous fact, that, as early 
as the eighth number, issued February 3, 1808, the American 
Eagle is removed from the ornamental heading; and in his 
place is set the picture of a man on horseback, galloping, and 
blowing a horn from which proceed the words, IcJi bring das 
Neu's! So gut icJi's iveis! These several cuts, as well as 
many others Used from time to time in his work, were en- 
graved by Henkel himself, a fact which bears strong testi- 
mony to the remarkable versatility of the man. 

As in most of the weekly journals of the period, the con- 
tents of the Volkshcrichtcr were made up chiefly of general 
and foreign news. Along with the liberal quantities of such 
matter, appeared a few items with local reference; some 
meager advertisements ; and a weekly poem. If more space 
had been given to local happenings and to local personages, 
the present historical value of the paper would be much 
greater; but this is a truth that only the present could well 
appreciate ; and, even as the case stands, the ancient files of 
this pioneer publication are w-ellnigh invaluable, and should 
be carefully guarded from the destroying forces of time. 

The Volksbcrichicr of 1807 may be regarded as the pro- 
genitor of other weekly periodicals issued later from the 
Henkel press, and continued to the present. An important 
member of the series was the Spirit of Democracy. This 



166 THE VAI.LEY GERMANS. 

paper was succeeded in 1868 by the Shenandoah Valley, which 
is to-day one of the best known weekhes of northern Virginia. 

The year 1819 is the date of the last German publication 
credited to the Henkel press by Prof. Seidensticker;^*^ but I 
am informed by Mr. Ambrose L. Henkel that numerous other 
German publications were issued up to the year 1830. Since 
that date most of the printing has been in English. ^^ 

In 1851, after a devoted labor of seven years, an English 
translation of the Christian Book of Concord, or Symbolical 
Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, was given to the 
public. A second edition appeared in 1854. The official sanc- 
tion for this monumental work was given at a meeting of the 
Lutheran Tennessee Synod held at Zion Church, Shenandoah 
County, Va;, October 6-9, 1845. The chief mover in the enter- 
prise was Samuel Godfrey Henkel, M. D., who supervised the 
process of translation from the German and Latin, and had 
charge of the matter as it passed through the press. Valuable 
assistance was rendered by Rev. Ambrose Henkel, Joseph 
Salyards, M. A., Rev. Socrates Henkel, and others. The sec- 
ond edition, which was carefully and thoroughly revised with 
the assistance of many eminent scholars, was brought out un- 
der the supervision of Rev. Socrates Henkel, D. D. (1823- 
1901), a noted author and leader in his church, and the father 
of the two gentlemen at present constituting the chief mem- 
bers of the publishing firm of Henkel and Company.^^ 

Apropos, the following is quoted from a letter of August 7, 
1851, written to Dr. J. A. Seiss by Dr. Charles P. Krauth : 

The New Market men have finished their translation of the Sym- 
bols, and have actually passed it through the press. The Valley of 

16. First Century of German Printing, pp. 208, 252. 

17. For valuable lists of books, etc., issued from the Henkel press 
during the period from 1807 to 18.'?0, see articles by Rev. A. Stapleton 
in the Pennsylvania-German of April, 1903, and April, 1904. 

18. Henkel's History of the Tennessee Synod, pp. Ill, 112; 126-132; 
Jenson's A.nerican Lutheran Biographies; Shenandoah Valley, Sup- 
plement, July 28, 1904. 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. 167 

Virginia will now have the credit of having produced the most 
important contribution to the Lutheran Theological Literature of this 
country, which has yet appeared. The thing, of course, is defective, 
but it is nevertheless higlily honorable to them. It r^iarks a distinct 
era in the history of our Church in this country. They have trans- 
lated Muller's Introduction also, which adds very much to the value 
of the work.i" 

Another brief paragraph must conckide this account of the 
Henkel press. Rev. G. D. Bernheini, D, D., in his History of 
the German Settlements and the Lutheran Church in the 
Carohnas, has this to say : 

The Lutheran Church in America has had its publication boards 
and societies in abundance which have doubtless accomplished a 
good work; but the oldest establishment of the kind is the one in 
New Market, Va., dating back to 1800. It was established by the 
Henkel family, and has continued under their management to this 
day, * * * jind has issued more truly Lutheran Theological works 
in an English dress, than any similar institution in the world. 

At about the same time that Ambrose Henkel was starting 
the Volkshcrichtcr at New Market, a weekly newspaper (dis- 
tinguished also for its lack of local news) was being estab- 
lished at Staunton. It was known as the Staunton Eagle, and 
was continued for several years. The editor was our friend 
of the Winchester almanac enterprise of 1805, Jacob D. Diet- 
rich. Occasional advertisements in the German language ap- 
peared in the columns of the Eagle; and sometime in 1808 
the editor began the publication of another paper, printed 
wholly in German.^'' The title of this paper is given as the 
Teutscher Virginischer Adlcr by Seidensticker; and of it he 
has the following to say : 

No copy of this paper has been discovered, its existence is sur- 
mised from an advertisement in the Cincinnati Liberty Hall, March 
26, 1808, kindly copied and furnished by Mr. H. A. Rattermann. 
The first number of the paper was to appear in January, 1808. The 
advertisement calls for subscribers and makes the publication of the 
Adler contingent on sufficient encouragement. 2i 

19. Spaeth's Life of Charles P. Krauth, Vol. I, p. 194. 

20. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, pp. 381, 382. 

21. First Century of German Printing, p. 174. 



168 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Herr Dietrich evidently believed in advertising. Cincinnati 
was far west in those days. In his endeavor to circulate the 
Staunton Eagle he had agents in nearly all the Valley counties 
of Virginia, and in the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina. 

Inasmuch as it is evident from Prof. Seidensticker's state- 
ment that copies of this early German paper are very rare, 
the writer deems himself rather fortunate in having dis- 
covered a copy within the past few months — the only copy 
extant, so far as is at present known. An extended examina- 
tion of this copy has been made, and a description in some 
detail will follow. From this it will be observed that Prof. 
Seidensticker does not give the title exactly. It will also be 
observed that, unless a number of issues were omitted some- 
where, the publication of the Adler did not begin until about 
November 12, 1808. 

The Adler like the Volkshcrichter, was in the ordinary 
four-page form ; but it had four columns to the page, and each 
page was ten inches wide and eighteen inches from top to 
bottom. The following simple diagram will give a fair idea 
of the first page of the issue examined. [See next page.] 

The second page completes the account of the battle of 
Wagram, and begins a number of general and foreign news 
notes from various cities: (1) London, September 4, 6, 7; 
(2) Boston, October 18; (3) Philadelphia, November 7; 
(4) New York, November 1; (5) Foreign news, from New 
York; (6) Foreign News, from Boston, October 10, 14. 

It was reported from Philadelphia that the U. S. war sloop 
Wasp had just arrived at New York from the Orient. There 
is also a note concerning the U. S. schooner Enterprise, at 
Amsterdam. 

These news items end on page 3 ; then follow Editorial 
Notes, Advertisements, and a list of 62 unclaimed letters re- 
maining in the Harrisonburg postoffice, September 30, 1809. 
They were to be kept until the 30th of December; then all 
still uncalled for were to be forwarded as dead letters to the 



1809) 



(Numro 54. 



Der Deutsche Virginier Adler 

"Wo Freyheit bluhet, da ist mein Vaterland." 
Samstag, den 18ten November. 



Staunton, (Vlrglnlen.) 

Gedruckt und heraus- 
gregeben von Jacob D. 
Dietrich. 



Markt Prelse. 

Fur den Virginier Ad- 
ler Wochentlich ver- 
beszert. 



Richmond. 



Friderichsburg. 



Baltimore. 



Philadelphia. 



Bedlngungen 
dleser Zeltung. 

1. "Der Deutsche Vlr- 
glnler Adler" wlrd 
regelmaszig- alle Sam- 
stag, auf einem gan- 
zen Bogen Demey Pa- 
pier, mlt guten Schrlf- 
t e n herausgageben 
werden. 

2. Der gerlnge Pretsz 
von dleser Zeltung 1st 
EIn Thaler und 50 
Cents das Yahr.— Eln 
Thaler wlrd beym 
Kmpfang der ersten 
Nummer, und 50 Cents 
nach Verlauf des er.s- 
ten halben Jahrs Im 
voraus bezahlt 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 



Auswartig. 

Angabe 
vom ostreichlschen 
Terrllorlum Besltz 
der Franzosen. 

Ueber den Gegen- 
stand elnes Friedens 
zwlschen Bonaparte 
und dem KaiserFranz, 
lauten die Geruchte 
noch Immer wider- 
sprechend 



[End. 



Die Anrede 

seiner Helllgkelt Plus 
der Siebente, an den 
Kaiser Bonaparte. 



[End.] 



Die Nlederlage von 
Wagram hat unter 
den osterrelchlschcn 



Folgende Tagesord- 
nung wurde am Mor- 
gen nach der Schlacht 
von Wagram oSent- 
lich bekant gemacht. 

Tages Ordnung. 
Goellersdorf, 
den 7ten July. 
In der gestrigen 
Schlacht haben die 
Truppen des llnken 
Flugels kelnesweges 
die Erwartung voU- 
fuhrt 

[A long and interest- 
ing account, pointing 
out the conditions that 
led to the defeat. 

This oCaclal paper is 
signed, "Karl, Gener- 
allsslmus." 

The account runs 
Into the second page.] 



170 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

general postoffice.^^ About one-third of page 4 is devoted to 
poetry and anecdotes; the rest to advertisements, two book 
notices, and items concerning- property lost and found. The 
books advertised were Thomas a Kempis' "Imitation of 
Christ" and a Life of Heinrich Stilling. The former was for 
sale at Lancaster, Pa., by Hamilton & Ehrenfried; the latter 
at Lebanon by Heinrich Sage. Another advertiser was Hen- 
rich Speck, Saddler, of Waynesl^oro, Va. The two notices 
following were put in his paper by the publisher, Mr, Dietrich, 
and are given here to show that his business must have been 
growing. 

An Drucker. 

Ein Drucker Geselle wircl in dieser Druckerey verlangt. 

Ein solche, welcher ein guter Arbeiter unci willig ist, am Kasten 
unci an der Presse zu Arbeiten, wird guten Lohn und bestandige 
.Arbeit bekommen. Ein soldier der Rucharbeit versteht, und der 
englischen und deutschen Sprache maclitig ist, wird den Vorzug 
haben. Briefe die mit der Post geshickt werden, und worauf das 
Postgeld bezahlt ist, sollen sogjeich besorgt werden. 23 

An Buchbinder. 

Ein Buchbinder, Geselle, welcher sein Geschaft versteht, nuchtern 
und fleissig ist, wird den hochsten Lohn und bestandige Arbeit 
erhalten, wenn er sich in dieser Druckerey personnlich oder schrift- 
lich (Briefe Postfrey) meldet. 

Staunton, Octb. 7, 1809. 

Upon the margin of the first page of this copy of the Adlcr 
is written a name, illegible now, but doubtless that of the sub- 
scriber of a hundred years ago. This rare old print is at 
present in the possession of Prof. F. W. Walter, of Staunton; 
and it was through his painstaking and generous kindness 
that the writer was enabled to prepare the foregoing descrip- 
tion. 

Sometime during the first or second decade of last century, 

22. The names of the persons to whom these letters were addressed 
are given in Appendix A. 

23. Postage in those days was a considerable item. This. fact will 
doubtless account in some measure for the large number of unclaimed 
letters in the postoffices. 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. l^i 

Laurentz R. Wartmann established a printing house at Har- 
risonburg, Va. Beginning as early as 1816 — perhaps earlier 
— a number of German books and pamphlets, religious publi- 
cations for the most part, were issued at frequent intervals 
from this press. Elder Peter Burkholder, the Mennonite, 
Elder Peter Bowman, the Dunker, and Rev. John Brown, the 
German Reformed, were among the authors of these works. 
Several of their publications will be found listed in the ap- 
pended bibliography. Brown's important volume of 1818 has 
already been referred to in the chapter on religious activities, 
and will be noticed again in the following chapter, in connec- 
tion with the subject of slavery. 

In the summer of 1822 Wartmann founded a weekly news- 
paper, which, although it was printed in English from the 
beginning, deserves a prominent notice here; inasmuch as it 
was founded by a German publisher, has been in charge dur- 
ing the greater part of its history of German editors, and has 
always had a large patronage among the German people of 
Rockingham and adjoining counties. The periodical referred 
to is the well-known Rockingham Register; which, like the 
Shenandoah Valley (New Market), the Shenandoah Herald 
(Woodstock), the St>irit of the Valley (Harrisonburg), and 
the Staunton Spectator, has come deservedly into the honors 
of old age without losing any of the vigor of youth ; and 
throughout its long and busy career has done much to collect, 
preserve, and disseminate the history of the Valley people, 
irrespective of race or creed. The Register remained in the 
hands of the Wartmann family for about fifty years ; then it 
was purchased by Giles Devier and others, who conducted it 
until the spring of 1900, when it came into the possession of 
Mr. A. H. vSnyder. In the spring of 1903 it became a semi- 
weekly, published by the News-Register Company, Harris- 
burg. Mr. Snyder has been the efficient editor of the Register 
since 1889. It has been published continuously since 1822, 
excepting brief periods of interruption during the Civil War. 

Two more important publishing centers of the Valley Ger- 



1T2 " THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

mans, both in Rockingham County, must receive attention in 
this review : the one at Singer's Glen, conducted by the 
Funks; the other at Dayton, directed by the Ruebush-Kieffer 
Company. 

The httle village of Singer's Glen, or Mountain Valley, as 
it was known in earlier days, situated in the western part of 
Rockingham, was for nearly half a century the source of au- 
thority and inspiration in the practice and theory of vocal 
music, not only for the great majority of the people in the 
Shenandoah Valley, but also for many beyond its borders. 
In addition to their achievements in music, the teachers of 
Singer's Glen were more or less eminent in religious literature. 
Joseph Funk, the leader in these activities, was born in Berks 
County, Pa., in 1778. He came to Rockingham County at an 
early age, and lived there till his death in 1862. In 1837 he 
translated from the German into English an important work 
of his church, the Mennonite Confession of Faith, with nine 
Reflections written by Eld. Peter Burkholder. This transla- 
tion, with an extended and valuable historical introduction, 
written by himself, he published the same year in a volume of 
460 pages. Ten years later (1847), he founded a printing 
establishment at Singer's Glen, which was the first Mennonite 
printing office in America. From this press, which was oper- 
ated later by the firm of Joseph Funk's Sons, were issued nu- 
merous volumes, chiefly music books, written by the Funks 
themselves. Their most famous work was the "Harmonia Sa- 
cra," a large collection of sacred songs, with accompanying 
music, published first in 1832, and still used, in connection with 
a hymn book also published by the Funks, by some Mennonite 
congregations to-day. The "Harmonia Sacra," was first 
printed at Winchester; afterwards at Singer's Glen. One 
edition followed another till the later 70's. By that time 
seventeen editions, aggregating many thousands of copies, had 
been put forth. 

In the meantime Joseph Funk and his sons, Joseph, Timo- 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. l'?3 

thy,^* Solomon, and Benjamin, were traveling literally all 
over the Shenandoah Valley, as well as throughout many 
sections of Piedmont Virginia, teaching: making a specialty 
of vocal music, but also giving instruction in other branches 
of study. Pupils also came to Singer's Glen, and went away 
with new stores of knowledge and inspiration. Joseph Funk 
did in his day, considering the obscure hamlet in which he 
lived and the limitations of his time, a work no less remark- 
able and no less telling than that of his illustrious kinsman^^ 
of the present day, who has, by reason of modern science, the 
powers of the sea and earth and air at his command. 

In 1865 Aldine Stillman Kieffcr (1840-1904), a grandson 
of Joseph Funk, came back from the wars and Northern 
prisons to the girlhood home of his mother, and joined with 
his uncles at Singer's Glen in building up again what the. four 
years of storm and fire had wellnigh ruined. In a year or 
two was published a little yellow, paper-backed book, contain- 
ing hymns and music, and called the "Christian Harp." A 
worn copy is before me as I write. There are only 112 pages, 
four and a half inches by six. Young Kieffer, poet and musi- 
cian, was the editor. The book had a phenomenal sale, more 
then a hundred thousand copies going out within a compara- 
tively brief period. About ten years later, Mr. Kieffer pub- 
lished another one of his numerous books — the best known of 
all — the "Temple Star." This is still being printed, and over 
a quarter of a million copies have been sold. 

In 1878 the printing establishment of Singer's Glen was 
moved some ten miles south to Dayton; and Mr. Ephraim 
Ruebush, who in 1861 had married a sister to Kieffer, joined 

24. On January 26, 1907, an "old-time singinp;" was held at Singer's 
Glen, in celebration of Mr. Timothy Funk's birthday, upon the com- 
pletion of his 83d year. The old "Harmonia Sacra" was used; the 
old songs were sung; and the old singers were there — some, Rcrhaps, 
for the last time. — See Harrisonburg Daily News, January 28, 1907. 

25. Rev. Isaac K. Funk, D. D., LL. D., senior member of the firm 
of Funk & Wagnalls.— See Funk Family History, pp. 289, 290; 712; 
758-760. 



174 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

with the latter in organizing the puljHshing house of Ruebush, 
Kieffer & Company — at present well known as the Ruebush- 
Kieffer Company. Mr. Ruebush had been associated with 
Mr. Kieffer and the rest at Singer's Glen for several years 
prior to the removal to Dayton ; so that the two publishing 
centers must be closely associated in thought, as they actually 
have been in fact : the one being the outgrowth or develop- 
ment of the other. 

The work begun at Singer's Glen is now going on and still 
growing at Dayton. On January 1, 1870, Mr. Kieffer estab- 
lished at the former place a monthly journal called the Musical 
Million; this is now published at Dayton, with a circulation 
of 10,000 copies, distributed mostly in Virginia and the 
Southern States ; and is believed to be the oldest music journal 
in the country. The Musical Million was preceded at no 
great interval by the Musical Advocate, which was published 
at Singer's Glen, beginning in 1858. 

Inasmuch as the publishing activities at both Singer's Glen 
and Dayton have always been powerfully stimulated by re- 
ligious interests, it may be well at this point to note succinctly 
the several prevailing tendencies of this sort. Joseph Funk, 
the elder, was a Mennonite, as we have seen ; and his work, 
with the rights to certain of his publications, may be regarded 
as having been transmitted, through individuals bearing his 
own family name, to the present Mennonite Publishing Com- 
pany of Elkhart, Ind. Several of Joseph Funk's sons, who 
conducted the later publishing work at Singer's Glen, have 
been ministers and influential leaders in the Baptist denomi- 
nation. The present Ruebush-Kieffer Company is controlled 
mainly by members of the United Brethren church. 

It has been observed already that Aldine Kieffer was not 
only a musician, but also a poet. In the latter capacity he is 
probably the leading representative of the Valley Germans; 
and of his talent they may justly be proud. Many of his 
lyrics, as, for example, "Olden Memories" and "Grave on the 
Green Hill Side," have touched thousands of hearts; and in 



LITERARY ACTIVITIES. l'''-'^ 

his collection of poems, "Hours of Fancy: or, Vigil and 
Vision," are many more songs that have a music of their 
own. 

Before closing this sketch of the educational and literary 
activities of the Valley of Virginia Germans, two significant 
facts, whose relation to the suhject in hand has been intimate, 
and whose influence has been necessarily potent, must be 
mentioned. 

In his able presentation of the historical development of 
German instruction in American schools, Hon. L. Viereck has 
this to say : 

The second epocli [1825-1876] begins with the appointment of a 
German professor f Blaettermann] to the chair of modern languages 
in tlie newly founded University of Virginia and the important step 
of permitting Prof. Charles FoUen to teach his mother tongue at 
Harvard. 20 

At the opening of the University of Virginia in 1825, 
sixty-four of the 116 students took German from the begin- 
ning. Dr. Blaettermann held his position for some fifteen 
years. In 1844, Dr. M. Scheie de Vere, another German, on 
his mother's side, was elected to the same chair, and was a 
prominent figure in the University's life for about half a 
century. In 1854-5 the department of modern languages en- 
rolled 200 men.^^ During all these years, three-quarters of 
a century or more, many students from the Shenandoah Val- 
ley, a goodly number of them of German blood, must have 
sat at the feet of Blaettermann and De Vere; and they doubt- 
less carried back to their homes west of the Blue Ridge a 
subtle something that enabled them the better to stimulate and 
direct the thought and sentiment of their own people. 

The second fact of significance to be mentioned here — a fact 
that bears a double relation, both resultant and causal, to this 
particular phase of our subject — is this : The first Virginia 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction was Dr. William 

26. Report of Commissioner of Education, 1901, Vol. I, p. 538. 

27. Idem, p. 552. 



176 TKE VAI.I.EY GERMANS. 

H. Ruffner, a member of one of the oldest German families 
of the Shenandoah Valley. Dr. Ruffner was elected to this 
important and trying position in 1870, over numerous com- 
petitors; and during" the twelve years of his public service in 
this capacity did a work that also deserves to be called epoch- 
making. 

Mr. Ruffner's father, Dr. Henry Ruft'ner, was born in 1790 
on the Hawksbill Creek, a mile from the present town of 
Luray, near the site where his ancestor, Peter Ruffner, had 
settled in 1739. Dr. Henry Ruffner was for nearly a genera- 
tion officially connected with Washington College, now Wash- 
ington and Lee University ; and was for a number of years its 
president. He was a man of unusual powers : a skilled exec- 
utive, a convincing orator, and an author of remarkable force 
and versatility. His novel, "Judith Bensaddi," went through 
several editions ;^^ and his pamphlet of 1847 on slavery is a 
classic in its field. Dr. William H. Ruffner, now a venerable 
citizen of Lexington, Va., must have inherited many of his 
father's powers. The work he has done for public schools 
will tell for generations all over Virginia. He has been called, 
no doubt justly, the "Horace Mann of the South. "^'^ Of his 
own stock, the Valley Germans, he has said : "They are the 
leaders in popular education [in Virginia]. They have in fact 
a great future before them."^*^ 

28. Washington and Lee Historical Papers, No. 6, p. 107. 

29. U. S. Educational Report, 1895-6, Vol. I, p. 270. 
SO. Schuricht's German Element, Vol. II, p. 134. 



CHAPTER XI. 
Rum and Slavery. 

A writer in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and 
Biography, Vol. X, page 390, asserts that, of all the nation- 
alities of the Middle Colonies, the early Germans were least 
addicted to the use of rum and malt liquor. This statement 
has a rather odd sound in ears accustomed to hear much 
concerning the bibulous institutions and habits of modern 
Germans. Perhaps it may be, however, that much beer is 
by some feat of the imagination transformable into little 
liquor. But whatever may be the real state of affairs among 
the German race as a whole to day, or whatever may have 
been the condition in the Middle Colonies a century or two 
ago, it is the writer's opinion that the German element of 
the Shenandoah Valley may justly be regarded as a people 
who have always been somewhat above the average in the 
l)ractice of temperance. This conclusion has been reached 
in a full consciousness of the painful exceptions afforded in 
numerous individual cases ; and it may be that a census of 
our cities and larger towns might appear to disprove the 
statement ; for many Germans would be found who keep 
saloons, and many more who patronize them immoderately ; 
but if the census were made to include the smaller towns, 
villages, and rural districts, results strikingly different would 
likely be obtained. It would doubtless be possible to name 
at the present time a half dozen or more towns, whose popu- 
lation would average a thousand, in which no liquor is pub- 
licly sold; in some of which there has been no saloon for a 
generation; and in one or two of which there has never been 
one. 

Another proposition is now ventured forth. If it be true 
that the Valley Germans have been somewhat above the aver- 

—12 



178 THE VAI.IvEY GERMANS. 

age in temperance, it is the writer's opinion that the fact is 
not so because they came from Pennsylvania or some other 
middle colony, or even because they are Germans ; but because 
of the strong and persistent influence of definite moral and 
religious teaching. The people of the Valley of Virginia 
•have not enjoyed any universal immunity in respect to thai 
particular and decided craving called thirst ; if, therefore, they 
have done any better in subduing or disregarding it than 
others have done, it has been accomplished by means of hard 
struggle and fixed purpose. Traflk and traffickers in rum 
sought early and even illegal entrance, and have never ceased 
their troubling even yet. As early as 1745 Jacob Chrisman, 
a German, and a son-in-law of Jost Hite, was fined 2000 
pounds of tobacco for keeping a tippling house and for retail- 
ing liquors without a license.^ 

In support of the statement that the any more than usual 
degree of temperance which may have existed or may exist 
among the Valley Germans is due mainly to religious in- 
fluences, attention is called to the fact that several religious 
bodies, whose membership is found chiefly in communities pre- 
vailingly German, and at the same time prevailingly temperate, 
have always maintained a decided attitude against rum in all 
forms. The converse is also believed to be true : that the 
most intemperate communities are not only the ones least in 
touch with these anti-liquor sects, but also least under the in- 
fluence of any religious denomination. 

Of the several religious bodies largely represented in the 
Valley, the Mennonites and Dunkers have perhaps ma;ntj.ined 
the most uncompromising attitude in regard to the liquor 
traffic and other aids to intemperance. So far as can be ascer- 
tained, no Mennonite in the State o: Virginia has ever been 
a saloon keeper or a distiller. Instances are reported in 
which, in the "earlier days," distillers were patronized by 
members of the church in the way of hauling to them surplus 
stores of apples; but the practice was always unusual; and 

1. Norris' History of the Lower Valley, p. 84. 



RUM AND SLAVERY. 179 

upon protest from the Conference, it has long since been 
abandoned altogether.- 

The German Baptist Brethren, or Dunkers, have been no 
less decided in this matter. As appears from the records of 
tlie annual meetings, some trouble was experienced by the 
Brotherhood in Maryland and Pennsylvania, during the 
period of the Revolution, due to attempts upon the part of 
some members of the church to run distilleries. At that early 
period, however, the body put in the form of definite declara- 
tions the rules of conduct long before regarded as obligatory, 
and has enforced them with general consistency ever since. 
By specific regulation from time to time, members of the 
church have not only been enjoined against intemperate in- 
dulgence in liquors and against their manufacture or sale, 
but they have also been forbidden to keep a tavern, if that 
would put them in the way of temptation ; to work in dis- 
tilleries for wages; to chop in their mills grain to be used in 
distilleries; to sell fruit or grain to distillers; to go security 
for dealers in liquor.^ 

It might be supposed that so much legislation would defeat 
its own aim ; but it has been supported by such a strong 
moral and religious conviction that the cases of transgression 
in these particulars by members of the fraternity have been 
very rare. The church regards itself as unqualifiedly pledged 
to temperance by virtue of its religious profession; and hence 
has never regarded the organization of special temperance 
societies by its members as necessary or advisable. A similar 
attitude, less decided, is maintained respecting the use and 
handling of tobacco. 

As a general rule, the Germans of the Shenandoah Valley 
were opposed to slavery. It would be possible to enumerate 
many instances in which individuals among them owned 
slaves, but such cases were exceptional. Moreover, some of 
the principals in these cases had had the practice thrust upon 

2. From a letter of Nov. 4, 1906, from Bishop L. J. Hcatwole. 

3. Revised Minutes of Annual Meetings, pp. 158-1G2. 



180 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

them largely by the force of circumstances, ^nd endured it 
unwillingly. They no doubt realized in time the unpopu- 
larity of such an attitude, and the small opportunities they 
would accordingly enjoy for preferment in the larger political 
life of the State; but they nevertheless never became in any 
great numbers zealous advocates of the institution. Many of 
them, as we have seen, fought valiantly in the Southern 
armies when the civil strife came on; but not many of them 
fought to perpetuate slavery, we may well believe. 

If we seek the reasons for this antagonism to slavery, they 
are found easily enough in certain small circles; but it is 
more difficult to determine why the Germans as a race as- 
sumed this attitude; for such opposition does appear to have 
been so general among them that we may almost say it 
amounted to a national sentiment. Wherever in the land the 
German element was strongest, there was found the strongest 
anti-slavery feeling. At the time that American independ- 
ence was achieved, and even before, opposition to slavery 
was wellnigh universal in the colonies ; but it was in Pennsyl- 
vania, the home of the Germans, that the crusade centered ;* 
and the slavery existing there at the time is said to have been 
of a very mild form.'"* The German immigrants of later 
times, specially those of 1848, were opposed to slavery almost 
to a man." Many of them fought in the Northern armies 
chiefly for the reason that they opposed the institution; while 
but few among their race-fellows under the Southern flag 
fought for it. There must have been something in the Teu- 
tonic temperament, deep-seated and ineradicable, that revolted 
at the sight or thought of human chattels. It may be that the 
persecution and oppression that drove many of them out of 
Europe had left a smoldering fire within them that blazed up 
anew in the presence of chains. 

4. Hurst's Short History of tlie Church in the United States, p. 96. 

5. Pennsylvania-German Society Publications, Vol. V, p. 26. 

6. Report of Commissioner of Education, 1001, Vol. I, p. 562. 



RUM AND SLAVERY. 181 

If we confine our attention to the Germans of the Shenan- 
doah Valley, we may more readily enumerate causes for the 
conditions already remarked upon. In the first place, the 
Germans in that locality had the sentiment or whatever it 
was that seemed to belong' to the race. In the second place, 
they had come from Pennsylvania, most of them, and conse- 
quently had their prejudices strengthened by that circum- 
stance. Again, most of them, at least in the early days, were 
skilled workmen, small farmers, or tradesmen with limited 
I)usiness, and did not need help beyond that available in their 
own families. A few of them were doubtless able to judge 
of the social and economic effects of slavery, and hence to sup- 
ply themselves with a fourth reason for opposing it. Finally, 
and perhaps most potent of all, there was the teaching of the 
churches. There was scarcely one denomination with any 
considerable membership among the Valley Germans that did 
not at some time make official protest against the buying and 
selling of negroes ; and on the part of several of these reli- 
gious bodies the measures were most persistent and decided. 

As early as 1688 the Mennonites in Pennsylvania appear 
to have joined with the Quakers in a formal protest against 
the traffic in slaves.''' They looked upon the owning of slaves 
and the trading in them as a breach upon their creed and 
discipline; and even the hiring of a slave was forbidden by 
their general conference.^ The early United Brethren were 
exceedingly strict on the same subject. No member of the 
church was allowed to hold slaves. Bishop Glossbrenner, in 
enforcing this rule, is said to have expelled from membership 
his own father-in-law, one of the best citizens of Augusta 
County.^ 

In the year 1818, Rev. John Brown, who was for many 

7. Hartzler and Kauffman's Mennonite Church History, pp. 396-398; 
Seidensticker's Die Erste Deutsche Einwanderung, pp. 80-84; Hurst's 
Short History of the Church, pp. 95, 96. 

8. From a letter of Nov. 4, 1906, by Bishop L. J. Heatwole. 

9. Harrisonburg Daily News, March 21, 1905. 



182 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

years a leader of the German Reformed clnirch in Rocking- 
ham and Augusta, pnbHshed a well bound volume, already 
referred to, of 419 pages; and in it he devotes a section of 95 
pages to the institution of slavery, favoring its abolition. He 
admits that he can find no ground of condemnation in the 
insfitution itself; nevertheless he thinks it hinders the spirit 
of Christianity, and enquires whether Christians, therefore, 
can in good conscience hold slaves. In the fourth place he 
discusses ways and means of liberating slaves, calling atten- 
tion to propositions advanced on the subject by St, George 
Tucker and Thomas Jefferson. While he does not apparently 
commit himself to any specific method of procedure, he seems 
to recommend a selection and combination of the approved 
features in the various plans, so as to accomplish the end 
gradually and appropriately.^'^ 

The Dunkers were no less opposed to slavery, upon reli- 
gious principle, than the Mennonites and United Brethren; 
and they no less consistently adhered to a practical enforce- 
ment of their beliefs. The Lutheran Tennessee Synod, a 
body having a strong constituency in the Valley of Virginia, 
put itself upon record in 1822, as follows: When a member 
present asked the question, "Is slavery to be considered an 
evil?" the Synod in reply resolved, "That it is to be re- 
garded as a great evil in our land, and it desires the govern- 
ment, if it be possible, to devise some way by which this evil 
can be removed." The Synod also advised every minister to 
admonish every master to treat his slaves properly, and to 
exercise his Christian duties towards them.^^ 

But the Germans, while taking an advanced and decided 
position against slavery, were not wholly without support 
upon the side of their neighbors, the Scotch-Irish, who appear 
to have been tolerant of it rather than its adherents. Mr. 
Waddell says : "The institution of slavery never had a strong 
hold upon the people of Augusta. The Scotch-Irish race had 

10. Brown's Circular, pp. 278-373. 

11. Henkel's History of the Tennessee Synod, p. 52. 



RUM AND SLAVERY, 183 

no love for it, and the German people were generally adverse 
to it. Most farmers cultivated their own lands with the as- 
sistance of their sons."^^ In 1831-2 several petitions praying 
for the abolition of slavery, one signed by 215 ladies, were 
sent up to the State legislature from Augusta County. ^-^ 

Of all the protests or arguments against slavery, made 
from the standpoint of the statesman and political economist, 
none was more able or convincing than the one presented to 
the people of western Virginia in 1847 by Dr. Henry Ruffner. 
Dr. Ruffner, as has been noted in the preceding chapter, was 
born of German parentage in what is now Page County, Vir- 
ginia. His ancestors, at least on his mother's side, were 
Mennonites ; but he had entered the communion and ministry 
of the Presbyterian church, and was at this time president of 
Washington College, at Lexington, Va. In a public debate 
in Lexington, Dr. Ruffner had given expression to anti-slav- 
ery views, though he was himself a slaveholder. Shortly 
afterwards he was requested by a number of leading citizens 
to publish his arguments.^'* This request was formally pre- 
sented in writing on September 1, 1847, and was signed by the 
following gentlemen : S. McD. Moore, John Letcher, David P. 
Curry, James Q^ Hamilton, George A. Baker, J. H. Lacy, John 
Echols, James R. Jordan, Jacob Fuller, Jr., D. E. Moore, and 
John W. Fuller. Three days later Dr. Ruffner replied, agree- 
ing to do as requested, and proposing some amplifications and 
revisions. With these improvements, the address was pub- 
lished in a forty-page pamphlet before the end of the year. 

Dr. Ruffner, as already noted, himself held slaves; more- 
over, he detested the newly-risen fanatics called Abolitionists; 
yet he argued strongly against slavery upon the following 
propositions: (1) That it was driving away immigmtion ; 
(2) that it was driving out white laborers; (3) that it was 

12. Annals of Augusta, pp. 414, 415. 

13. Ibid. 

14. Of the population of Rockbridge County in 1840, 3510 in 14,284, 
or slightly over 24^2 per cent., were slaves. 



184 THE VALLTCY GERMANS. 

crippling agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; (4) that 
it was detrimental to common schools and popular education ; 
and (5) that it was imposing hurtful social ideals upon the 
people. 

He did not wish to interfere with slavery in eastern Vir- 
ginia, if the majority of the people there preferred it; but he 
wanted to eliminate it from the section west of the Blue 
Ridge. The best way to reach all desirable ends he thought 
to be the division of the State along the Blue Ridge line; but 
thought it not impossible to obtain the desired results in a 
rational and political way without the division of the State. 
He planned for gradual emancipation ; for deportation and 
colonization. 

Basing his statements chiefly upon the U. S. Census of 
1840, Dr. Ruffner declared that the slave population of east- 
ern Virginia, dividing on the crest of the Blue Ridge, was 
eight times as large as that v/est of the line. In western Vir- 
ginia at large, he said, the slaves were only one-eighth of the 
population, and the slave-holding population less than' one- 
eighth of the whites. 

Following is the outline of his plan for getting gradually 
rid of slavery in the western section of the State. 

1. Let the farther importation of slaves into West Virginia be 
prohibited by law. 

2. Let the exportation of slaves be freely permitted, as heretofore; 
but with this restriction, that children of slaves, born after a certain 
day, shall not be exported at all after they are five years^ old, nor 
those under that age, unless the slaves of the same negro family be 
exported with them. 

3. Let the existing generation of slaves remain in their present 
condition, but let their offspring, born after a certain day, be eman- 
cipated at an age not exceeding 25 years. 

4. Let masters be required to have the heirs of emancipation taught 
reading, writing and arithmetic: and let churches and benevolent 
people attend to their religious instruction. 

5. Let the emancipated be colonized. [The freedmen were to labor 
in advance for the funds necessary for their transportation.] 

6. The law might authorize the people of any county, by some 
very large majority, or by consent of a majority of the slaveholders, 



RUM AND SLAVERY. 



185 



to decree the removal or emancipation of all the slaves of the 
county, within a certain term of years, seven, ten or fifteen, accord- 
ing: to the number of slaves. i-"* 

Ruffner's plan bears a close resemblance in many respects 
to one proposed by Henry Clay, and certainly would have 
been a wise and practicable measure; but the passions of the 
time were rising-, and soon they clouded men's better judg- 
ment. 

To illustrate further the status of slavery in the Valley 
comities, and to confirm certain foregoing statements as to 
the anti-slavery influence of the Germans, the following fig- 
ures, prepared from th.e census of 1840, are presented. 

Name of Total Number of Percentage 

County. Population. Slaves. of Slaves. 

Clarke C,353 3,325 c. 52)^ ^ 

Jefferson 14,082 4,157 c. 29i.^ 

Percentage of Slaves of Clarke and Jefferson, about 3G^. 

Augusta 19,628 4,145 c. 21 

Berkeley 10,972 1,919 c. 17^^ 

Frederick 14,242 2,302 c. 16 1-6 

Warren 5,027 1,434 c. 25J/1 

Percentage of Slaves in these Four Counties, about 19J/2. 

Page 6,194 781 c. 12^/^ 

Rockingham 17,344 1,899 c. 11 

Siienandoah 11,618 1,033 c. 9 

Percentage of Slaves in these Three Counties, about lOJ^. 

; It will be observed that in the counties of Clarke and Jeffer- 
son, which have always been prevailingly English, the percent- 
age of slaves was very high. In the counties of Augusta, 
Berkeley, Frederick, and Warren, in three of which the Ger- ^ 

man element has been estimated to approach or to equal one- 
half of the white population, the percentage of slaves was 
much lower; and in Page, Rockingham, and Shenandoah, 
where the white population was probably three-fourths 
German, the percentage of slaves was very low. 

A few additional comparisons may be interesting. In the 

15. Ruffner's Pamphlet, pp. 38-40. — Copies of this once famous 
publication are now very rare. T!ie only one known to be extant 
is in the possession of Dr. W. H. Ruffner, of Lexington; and it was 
through his generous kindness that access to it was secured. 



18G THE VALIvEY GERMANS. 

seven Valley counties of Augusta, Berkeley, Frederick, Page, 
Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Warren — excluding Clarke 
and Jefferson — the percentage of slaves in 1840 was about 
15^. In the four counties, Albemarle, Orange, Madison, 
and Culpeper, lying just east of the Blue Ridge, the percent- 
age was over 57. In the three partly German counties of 
Hampshire, Hardy, and Pendleton, lying just west of the 
Valley, the percentage of slaves was about 11 1-6 ; while in the 
six counties of Rockbridge, Greenbrier, Alleghany, Kanawha, 
Mason, and Monroe — some of them lying far west — the per- 
centage was nearly 17j!/>. 

How have these conditions affected the Shenandoah Val- 
ley ? In many w^ays ; but in no way, perhaps, has the effect 
been shown more strikingly than in the rapid and complete 
recovery of the section from the protracted devastation of the 
Civil War. The Valley was a highway of marching armies 
and an almost constant battlefield, from the beginning to the 
end. When the end came conditions may not have been quite 
so bad as some of its enemies desired : a crow could perhaps 
have found a few pickings here and there, especially if he had 
been of the vulture species ; but the ruin was certainly com- 
plete enough. On October 7, 1864, Sheridan at Woodstock 
reported to Grant that he had destroyed over 2000 barns filled 
with wheat, hay, and farming implements ; over 70 mills, 
filled with wheat and Hour; that four herds of cattle had been 
driven away before the army; that no less than 3000 sheep 
had been killed and issued to the troops ; and that a large 
number of horses had been secured. Near Dayton and Har- 
risonburg he had burned all the houses in an area of five 
miles. ^"^ 

No wonder some of the people had to go out of the country, 
or from one locality to another, for a time, to keep from 
starving. And yet, in less than a generation afterward, a 
native of Rockingham, who had returned to his boyhood 

16. Peyton's History of Augusta, p. 239. 



RUM AND SIvAVERY. 187 

home, and had cHmbed to the top of Peaked Mountain to get 
a wide horizon, could write as follows : 

As I stood aloft gazinp: down on this prosperous valley, with its 
winding waterways and fertile meadow lands dotted thickly over with 
comfortable farmhouses and massive barns, with here and there a 
thriving town or village, I could but call up in contrast the devastated 
wastes left lying here on my departure in 1869. * * * Time and 
industry have prevailed; and, looking upon the present scenes of 
plenty and happy prosperity, without a knowledge of what has been, 
one would never dream of any time other than a thriving and peace- 
ful one for the great Valley of Virginia. 17 

This remarkable and rapid recovery of the Shenandoah 
Valley has doubtless been due in large measure to the fact 
that the bulk of the losses that the people suffered during the 
war, aside from the long death-roll, was in property other 
than slaves ; and to the fact that, apart from such material 
losses and sadly depleted numbers, they came out of the con- 
flict much as they had entered it : taught in the habits of 
economy and with hands hardened to labor. 

17. From the Tuscola (111.) Review, December 6, 1895. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Home Life and Industrial Habits. 

A great deal of more or less interest might be written un- 
der this head; but inasmuch as the subject has already been 
treated at length in other publications/ the present writer 
feels somewhat relieved from the responsibility of an ex- 
tended discussion, and shall therefore confine himself chiefly 
to those phases of the question that may be less familiar than 
others. Moreover, most of the accounts referred to deal with 
conditions as they existed a century or more ago ; so that this 
discussion may be allowed the more freely to extend into the 
present time. 

It has already appeared with sufficient clearness that the 
German pioneers followed the chief watercourses of the Shen- 
andoah Valley, and fixed their settlements for the most part 
on or near the fertile bottom lands along the larger streams. 
In these localities the soil was most productive and most 
easily worked ; and the lay of the land was generally most de- 
sirable. At many places there would be a wide bottom on one 
side of the river, sweeping out in an almost level expanse for 
a mile or more, even though on the opposite side of the stream, 
at that particular point, there might be an abrupt bluff. Fre- 
quently, too, there was but little timber to clear away on these 
broad levels. Along the banks of the stream there were al- 
ways trees of a larger or smaller growth ; but it is quite prob- 
able that many of the best lowlands were still largely prairie. 
After the bottom lands along the rivers were all taken up, the 

1. For a comparison of life, several generations ago, in western 
Virginia with life in eastern Virginia, see Howe's Antiquities, pp. 
152-160. For an interesting sketch of the manners and customs of 
the Pennsylvania farmers in .the 18th century, see Kuhns' German 
and Swiss Settlements, pp. 83-114. For the best and fullest discussion 
of primitive home life in the Shenandoah Vajley, see Kercheval's 
History of the Valley, pp. 151-155; 266-386. 



HOME ui^E. ' 189 

settlers of course pushed out and selected the best of what 
remained; and here again they were often able to get rich 
tracts, bordering on the smaller streams. The great majority 
of the early dwellings were built within easy reach of running 
water. Besides other advantages, such a location was most 
convenient for watering the farmer's horses, hogs, cattle, 
sheep,^ and poultiy. In nearly every case the house of the 
early ettler was built near a spring. This circumstance, 
when explained, will afford very satisfactory reasons why so 
few of the old houses were built on hills, and why nearly all 
of them were erected in hollows or on the low grounds near 
the streams. It may be that this habit of building near a 
spring was in part an ancient inheritance ; for Tacitus wrote 
of their fathers, many centuries ago, as follows : 

The Germans do not dwell in cities, and do not build their houses 
close together. They dwell apart and separate, where a spring or 
patch of level ground or a grove may attract them. Their villages 
are not built compactly, as ours are, but each house is surrounded 
by a clear space. 

But there were more modern reasons for building near a 
spring. The pioneers no doubt feared trouble with the In- 
dians from the beginning; and it was not long till the fear 
was realized. When a house or fort — and many of the 
houses were built for forts or in connection with a blockhouse 
— was attacked, or laid under seige, it was very necessary to 
be able to get water easily and abundantly. And therefore 
many of the houses were built, not only near to springs and 
streams, but often right over them. The oldest house stand- 
ing in Harrisonburg to-day, — a limestone structure built be- 
fore the Revolution, — has under it a fine spring. If a house 
was not built actually over a spring, it was frequently con- 
nected with one by a covered or underground passage. Re- 
cently in excavating for the foundation of a building, not far 
from the old stone house just mentioned, such an under- 

2. The writer is quite familiar with the popular superstition that 
sheep do not need any water to speak of; but he also knows quite 
well that they do drink frequently if they have the opportunity. 



190 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

ground way was found. The old Burtner house at Dayton, 
which was used in early times as a fort, was connected in this 
manner with a spring near by ; and both the house and spring 
are within a few rods of Cook's Creek. If there had been no 
other reason, the thrifty German would likely have built his 
house near a spring merely in order to save the labor and ex- 
pense of digging a well. 

In the construction of their houses the early settlers usually 
followed a style that was more or less uniform in all essential 
features, allowing for some variety in minor particulars. 
Most of the first dwellings were doubtless mere cabins, log 
huts, of one or two rooms on the ground floor and a bare loft 
overhead; but it was not long till larger and better structures 
— occasionally of limestone, but generally of logs — were 
erected ; and of this class a few still remain. In building with 
logs, the timbers, usually of yellow pine and frequently huge 
boles a foot and a half in diameter, were cut in proper lengths 
and hewn flat with a broad-axe on two opposite sides. They 
were then built up into the desired structure, and held in place 
by great notches, fitting from one log to another in a sort of 
dovetail fashion, at the corners of the building. The spaces 
between the round edges of the logs would be filled with 
blocks and mortar. Sometimes, however, the logs would be 
hewn square, so as to fit down solidly one upon another. In 
such cases but little mortar was needed to close every crevice. 

Usually but few openings for windows and doors were cut 
through the massive walls, and such as were made were gen- 
erally small and at some distance above the ground. The 
joists supporting the floors and the rafters supporting the 
roof were also hewn out of the durable yellow pine, and were 
often heavy and strong enough to support a railroad train. 
In shape, the house was a simple rectangle in nearly every 
case : not many unnecessary corners were made. Frequently 
a kitchen of one story was built adjacent to (^ne side or end of 
the dwelling. Usually in the center of the main structure was 
a great stone chimney, often eight or ten feet in diameter at 



HOME LIFE. 1^1 

the bottom, and big enough on the garret to hide an ox. Into 
the lower parts of this huge chimney would be built wide fire- 
places, and sometimes a cavernous bake-oven. 

But the early German farmers did not expend all their re- 
sources on their houses. In fact, these were often rather badly 
neglected until substantial outbuildings — particularly a barn — 
had been provided. These barns were generally built of hewn 
timbers, and were often immense structures, even in very 
early times. At a later period more of them came to be built 
of stone and brick, as well as of sawed timber; but the size of 
them has constantly increased rather than diminished. It is 
likely that most of the earliest barns were built up solidly, 
with both the side walls straight from the ground to the eaves, 
like many of more recent times ; but it was probably not long 
after the assured settlement of the country until some were 
built in the style that now prevails almost universally, and that 
has been generally in use for several generations. The par- 
ticular style referred to is known as the "Switzer" or 
"Swisher" barn. In no part of the country can more of these 
be seen at the present than in the German communities in the 
Valley counties of Shenandoah, Rockingham, and Augusta, 
unless it be in the German sections of Maryland and Penn- 
sylvania. These barns are rectangular structures from 
30 to 60 feet wdde, and from 40 to 120 feet long. They 
may be said to consist usually of three stories. The 
building site is generally chosen on a hillside sloping 
toward the east or southeast, where a sort of cellar is 
first excavated : the one side toward the hill being four or five 
feet deep, the other coming out flush with the downward 
slope. Inside of three sides of this excavation a strong wall, 
about six or seven feet high, is next erected : but the wall on 
the fourth side — the one facing down the hill — is built only a 
few inches or a foot above the ground. Upon this low side 
wall a heavy sill is laid, and upon it are set stout vertical tim- 
bers reaching up to the level of the higher walls. Thus far we 
have what may be called the first story of the barn : the place 



192 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

for the stables of horses, cattle, and sheep, with long passage 
ways for feeding the stock. Upon the short upright timbers 
is laid another long, heavy sill, reaching from one end of the 
building to the other. This sill, together with the end walls 
and the wall at the other side, affords a strong and steady 
foundation for the superstructure, which protrudes over the 
first story, towards the lower side of the slope, some six or 
eight feet. This extension is called the "overshoot." It pro- 
jects over a part of the barnyard, and shelters the entrances to 
the stables in the first story, or basement. We see the reason 
now for the strong timbers in the substructure on the side 
toward the barnyard : this side of the foundation has to be 
an actual fulcrum for the long beams that lie across it and 
extend beyond it to support the overshoot. 

The second or main floor, above the stables and extending 
over the barnyard the width of the overshoot, is divided into 
three sections : a wide riiow for hay or grain at either end, 
and a threshing-floor, single or double, in the center. With a 
little filling in of stones and earth on the side of the barn to- 
wards the hill, an approach or driveway is easily made into the 
barn floors. Upon these floors heavy w^agons loaded with 
hay or grain, and drawn frequently by four or more horses, 
are driven. At the threshing season the machine is rolled 
upon the barn floors, and connected by a long belt with the 
engine outside. Before the days of threshing machines, the 
grain was spread upon the floors and beaten out with flails, 
or tramped out by driving a number of horses round and 
round upon it. A granary is frequently built in one of the 
mows, at one side of the barn floor. Sometimes, in large 
barns, there is a granary at each side of the floor. When 
barns were smaller and fewer, and enemies more frequent, 
some of the old Germans had granaries in their attics. 

The third" story of the Switzer barn is frequently made by 
laying joists from sill to sill across the center floors, and thus 
making an overhead mow for storing hay or grain. The 
great side mows go clear up to the peak of the roof, with as 



HOME UFE. 193 

few obstructing timbers as possible; and woe unto the poor 
swain whose lot it is to pack the hay or wheat up against the 
rafters and scorching roof on some sultry day in July or 
August! But the modern hay fork, with its endless ropes 
and numerous pulleys, has lightened his task decidedly. 

The habits of thrift and industry among the early Germans 
of the Valley, especially in the rural districts, were regular 
and often more or less rigorous, but generally wholesome and 
invigorating; and many of the country families, not only 
those of German descent, but doubtless many also of other na- 
tionalities, have preserved many of the ancestral customs, with 
slight modifications, to the present. The family would 
usually retire very early in the evening, especially in the 
spring, summer, and early autumn. Half-past eight or nine 
o'clock was late enough. But the German farmer and his 
household were consistent: if they went to bed early, they 
also got up early. Four o'clock — earlier sometimes, never 
later — was considered a good time. During the winter 
tnonths five o'clock was sometimes accepted as a compromise 
with the elements, if there was not too much to do. This 
would still enable the girls to help with the breakfast, the 
boys to feed the stock, and all to travel a mile or two to school 
in ample time for "books"at nine or half-past eight. In the 
summer time daylight came much earlier, so that four o'clock 
or even half -past three was not too early for the farmer and 
his help to be stirring. The horses would have to be brought 
in from the far pasture, and be fed, curried, and harnessed. 
It was sometimes no easy task to find them, especially if a 
heavy fog increased the darkness, as was often the case. If 
there was any newly ploughed ground accessible anywhere, 
the beasts would be sure to have rolled in the fresh dirt; and 
then ci -rying them was no small job. By the time this task 
was finished and the harness on, breakfast would be called. 
Having washed in a copious supply of water, cold from the 
spring or pump, and having eaten his breakfast by the sputter- 

-13 



194 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

mg flame of a tallow dip or a lard lamp, the farme^- boy would 
have to move quickly to hitch up and get out into the field or 
upon the road by daylight or sunrise. 

Many of the young fellows on the farm used to go bare- 
footed in summer. Sometimes in the early morning, when 
one, would be picking his way out to the barn, the air would 
carry up the meadow a strong suspicion of frost, and the boy 
without shoes would become keenly aware of it. What did 
he do? go back and put on his shoes? Not he. He would 
go into the barnyai-d, chase up one of the sleepy cows, step 
quickly upon the spot of steaming ground where she had lain, 
warm his feet for two minutes, and then proceed about his 
business. The writer is not at all certain that this procedure 
can be claimed as an exclusively German trick. 

Very early in the history of the Valley numerous mills for 
the grinding of wheat, corn, and other grains were built. The 
famous mill of the Hites, on Opequon Creek, has already been 
mentioned. George Bowman, one of Jost Kite's sons-in-law, 
erected a mill on Cedar Creek at a much earlier date. Many 
of the Germans who settled on watercourses built mills, large 
or small, and harnessed the streams for power. To these mills 
the farmer would haul his grain, specially his wheat; and it 
was by the sale of his surplus flour that most of his money 
was obtained. The flour was accordingly put up in barrels — 
not imported ones — and loaded on the farmer's wagon. This 
great waggon, with its capacious body, and his strong team of 
sleek horses, were the "Dutchman's" pride. With his load 
of flour, supplemented oftentimes with several hundred- 
weight of bacon, the master of the farm would mount his 
saddle-horse and drive off to market: sixty miles, eighty 
miles, or more than a hundred, through great forests and 
over unbridged streams to the nearest point on the James 
River; to Falmouth or Fredericksburg; to Alexandria; or to 
Washington. There were certain luxuries — save the mark! 
— there were certain necessities of life that could be obtained 
no nearer. 



HOME LIFE. 195 

But most of the things really needful to the people of a new 
country, the German farmer and his family — he usually had 
a large family — provided in some way themselves. They 
raised cattle and tanned their hides, or had them tanned by 
a neighbor, and thus got leather for their shoes and harness. 
The itinerant shoemaker or harness-maker came around once 
or twice a year, made new shoes and harness, and repaired 
the old ; or else one of the sons of the family learned the arts 
and saved thenceforth much trouble and expense in those 
lines. In nearly every family the father or one of his sons 
was blacksmith enough to forge a nail and shoe a horse. The 
men raised sheep, clipped the wool, carded it or had it carded 
in the neighborhood, — and neighborhoods also were large in 
those days, — and the women spun it into yarn, dyed it, knitted 
it into gloves, suspenders, and stockings, and wove it into 
cloth: coarse cloth, perhaps, but good and warm. They grew 
flax, and turned it into linen. They raised geese, and plucked 
their feathers for beds and pillows. The housewives, by some 
magic touch, transformed old wornout clothes into new 
carpets, and stores of old meat rinds and grease, with a box 
of fresh wood ashes, into blocks of excellent soap. The health 
of the family was usually good; but, when one was sick, the 
mother with her teas and domestic poultices, and the father 
with his lancet to let blood or his formula of words, could 
often bridge over the need of a physician. 

A word in more detail must be said in regard to the spin- 
ning and weaving of the olden days. Many of the ancient 
spinning wheels and looms can yet be found in garrets and 
obscure corners ; and a few are still kept in the fuller light. 
It was during the winter months, especially, that the wheels 
and looms might be heard busily humming and thumping. In 
the larger households, where there were several daughters of 
working age, both of those useful implements might be kept 
in rapid motion from daybreak or before till after nightfall, 
the workers relieving one another in turn. 

Inasmuch as some of my readers may never have been 



196 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

initiated into the mysteries of making rag carpet, a brief out- 
line of tlie process may be pardoned here. Old clothes, be- 
yond redemption by patching, were washed, ripped apart, and 
the better pieces cut into strips about half an inch in width. 
These strips were sewed together into one continuous string, 
and then reeled into convenient skeins. The rags in skeins, 
frequently dyed with walnut hulls, hickory bark, or some 
other domestic coloring matter, were then wound on balls of 
a pound or less in weight. These balls were easily handled 
by the lady of the loom, who unwound them upon her smooth 
wooden shuttles, drove the shuttles back and forth by hand 
between the gaping warp-threads, or "chain," stretched upon 
the massive frames, and lo, at the other side of the loom 
came slowly out the completed fabric, rolled upon a long 
wooden cylinder, with its variegated stripes in warp and woof 
shining with no mean beauty. 

But carpets and rugs, jeans, linen, and linsey-woolsey were 
not the only products of the home weaver's skill : the climax 
was probably reached in the exquisite coverlets and counter- 
panes that were often veritable works of art, and that are 
to-day sought out by connoisseurs and bought at fancy prices. 
It may be interesting, and at the same time a matter oc- 
casioning surprise, to know that much hand weaving, upon 
the ancient wooden looms, especially of rugs and carpets, is 
still done in some parts of the Valley to-day. A few young 
ladies have learned the art of their grandmothers; but only a 
few. Most of the work of this kind is done by those who 
were taught in a generation older than the present one. 

It is asserted in the preceding chapter that the Valley Ger- 
mans have been a people somewhat ^bove the average in 
temperance.' This is believed to be strictly true in respect to 
their use of strong drink; but if we should apply a similar 
test to their cupboards and tables — to the amount of things 
they usually eat and have to eat — the result might be slightly 
different. The land in which they live has been wonderfully 
blessed with plenty; and, so far as the writer knows, the 



HOME LIFE. ■ 197 

people have never been disposed to lessen their shadows, or 
the shadows of their guests, by too much fasting. Often, 
from time to time, the generous housewives had occasion, or 
made it, to feast a score or two of neighbors ; and the bottom 
of the flour bins and krout tubs would never be touched or 
dreamed of. The better side of this quality, therefore, was 
a hearty and unstinted hospitality, for which the district in 
question has been justly noted. And this hospitality was ex- 
tended not only to those who bore the name of neighbor or 
claimed the due to friend, but also to the shoeless tramp upon 
the highway and the stranger without the gates. In the 
hurry-day of our modern life, which has dawned also upon 
this fair land between the mountains, this oldtime virtue may 
be losing ground ; but it is believed that even now the doors 
are very few that would close in the face of want and hunger, 
and the firesides as few whose warmth would be denied to 
the homeless wayfarer. 

An account of the methods and implements of cookery, in- 
cluding the processes of development from the spit and Dutch 
oven to the complications of the modern steel range, would 
be impossible and interminable; but a few particulars may be 
allowable concerning what used to be one of the most impor- 
tant and conspicuous pieces of the housewife's equipment: the 
bake oven. A number of these were still in use in the writer's 
own neighborhood during the earlier periods within his recol- 
lection. Let it be understood at once that the bake oven was 
quite different from the Dutch oven. The latter was a sort 
of heavy, oblong iron kettle, rather shallow^ and flat in the 
bottom, having a cover upon which coals of fire could be 
heaped. It was used in various processes of cooking. The 
bake oven was much larger, stationary, of different construc- 
tion, and generally used for different purposes. Sometimes 
the bake oven, as hereinbefore observed, was built into the 
huge chimney, beside the fireplace ; more frequently, however, 
at least in later times, it had the distinction of an independent 
and separate existence, being erected at a convenient distance 



198 THE) VALUiY GERMANS. 

outside the kitchen. The main feature of the oven was a large 
flat smooth stone, or an iron plate of sufficient dimensions, 
•forming the bottom, or baking surface. This was set hori- 
zontally in a bed lOf masonry at a convenient distance from 
the ground, usually about the height of a table; and over it 
was built, of brick or stone, a solid, hemispherical arch nr 
dome, with an opening at one side, giving access to the baking 
surface. The oven was heated by covering the bottom, or 
baking surface, with thinly split wood, firing it, and keeping 
the bed of coals in place until a sufficient temperature was 
reached. When the coals and ashes had been removed witli 
the "kitch," or scraper, and the dust carefully brushed out 
with an old broom, the bunches of dough or the unbaked pies 
were brought and skillfully thrust in, each to its proper place 
and each with the right side up, by means of a long wooden 
paddle-shaped implement called in English a peel ; in Pennsyl- 
vania "Dutch," a "Schiesse." And those loaves and pies were 
good. Their crispy sweetness was remarkable. But the 
abundance with which they were made each bake-day, and 
ever needed to be made, was more remarkable still. 

A feature of life in the autumn was the making of apple 
butter, a complicated and exacting but at the same time an 
enjoyable process. Some thirty, forty, or fifty bushels of 
apples were first gathered for cider, the best being laid aside 
for "peeling in." The cider-making was a task to delight the 
youthful heart. Upon the better equipped farms the apparatus 
was always ready. The apples were first poured into a hop- 
per and thoroughly mashed between two huge fluted cylinders ; 
the mill being turned by a horse walking in a circle and pull- 
ing a long sweep, or lever. The pomace was then set up in 
rings, or layers, upon the bed of the press, and held in place 
by ingeniously woven wisps of long rye straw. The straw 
not only held the pomace in place, one ring upon another, but 
also afl'orded abundant openings for the cider to escape when 
the pressure was applied. The pressure was usually obtained 
in one of two ways : by large wooden screws fixed in a strong 



home; life. 109 

frame above the pomace bed, and turned by long handspikes; 
or by a heavy lever, fastened to a deeply imbedded post or a 
tree, and carried over the pomace bed 18 or 20 feet to a point 
where another lever, by a simple mechanical arrangement, was 
applied to the first for pulling it down and holding it in place. 
The first of these levers was usually a huge log, a foot or two 
in diameter. It needed to be strong to withstand the tremend- 
ous strain put upon it. Next the cider was "boiled down" 
in a large copper kettle, holding from thirty to forty gallons ; 
and in the meantime the whole family, frequently with the 
assistance of some of the neighbors, would be "peeling" and 
"schnitzing" the apples already selected for that purpose. 
After a kettle or two of cider had been boiled down, and a 
sufficient quantity of apples had been "schnitzed," the butter- 
making proper began. The great kettle was made about half 
full of cider, a l(^t of the "schnitzed" apples were poured in, 
and the fun began. After a little while the boiling mixture 
had to be stirred constantly. The stirer was constructed of 
two pieces of wood : one perforated piece, about four inches 
wide and long enough to touch the bottom of the kettle. Into 
the top end of this piece was mortised a handle, long enough 
to extend out horizontally some eight or ten feet from the 
fire. Two persons, particularly a young man and a young 
woman, could manipulate this contrivance very conveniently. 
As the kettle boiled more apples or more cider might be added 
from time to time; till finally, somewhere about daylight the 
next day, the mixture would be at the proper consistency, and 
would be dipped out, with a copper dipper from the copper 
kettle, and put into gallon crocks. 

The German pioneer and his family had not many books. 
Together with the few volumes used by the boys and the 
still fewer used by the girls in their short terms at school, 
the Bible, the hymn book or prayer book, and the yearly 
almanac often made up tlie library. Of these, it would per- 
haps be an open question as to which was most used; but it 
was pretty certainly either the Bible or the almanac. The 



200 the; valley GERMANS. 

German's moral and religious habits were usually deep-seated 
and unimpeachable; but at the same time he had important 
and constant use for his almanac. Indeed the latter was often 
almost a sme qua non to his correct performance of religious 
duties. It is sometimes no easy matter, even in modern life, 
to keep the names of the days of the week in their proper 
places without a calender; and numerous instances are on 
record in which most devout persons missed their reckoning 
in those early days, and not only kept the wrong day for 
Sunday, but also did the other thing that was almost inevi- 
table: worked on Sunday. Mr. Waddell tells us^ of one 
Jacob Coger, — he must have been a German, — who was pre- 
sented at the Augusta court, not long after the organization 
of the county, "for a breach of the peace by driving hogs over 
the Blue Ridge on the Sabbath." Now, I suspect that it was 
not because Coger was a German, or an irreligious man, nor 
even because he lived in a Presbyterian community, that he 
was found in error, but simply because he did not have an 
almanac ! 

But the German farmer of several generations ago had 
many other than religious uses for his almanac. In some 
things he was too religious — he was almost superstitious. 
The twelve signs of the zodiac and the phases of the moon 
had many meanings for him. Oak timber was to be cut in 
one phase; pine in another. When a child was born the name 
was written down in the Bible, and frequently with it the 
record of the particular sign of the time — the fish, the scales, 
or the twins. There was another set of conditions, closely 
related to the foregoing, that was very studiously regarded in 
many things : what was commonly known as the "up-going"' 
and the "down-going." Onions and potatoes had to be 
planted, and shingles be nailed on a roof, in the "down- 
going;" but corn and wheat and other things yielding above 
ground had to be planted, and the ground rail of a worm 
fence had to be laid, in the "up-going." 

3. Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia, p. 85. 



HOME LIFE. 201 

As has already been remarked, the Hfe of the early Germans 
was a busy and often a strenuous one. Work with the hands 
was taught as a virtue, and rigid economy was cultivated as 
a marked accomplishment. In times of haying and harvest 
the women frequently joined in the labor of the field. In such 
a life of early rising and late toiling, there may seem to have 
been a small place for pleasure or for the broader views of 
living. And yet that life had a lighter and brighter as well 
as a darker and sterner side. Wants were few and easily satis- 
fied. With the stimulating breath of God's great out-doors 
giving untaught vigor to heart and eye and limb, there was 
a healthy joy in living — just living. And that joy was carried 
with a robust energy into every task, so that labor itself was 
more a pleasure than a burden. Upon special occasions these 
pleasures were heightened by companionship and the enthu- 
siasm of numbers, when a log-rolling, a corn-husking, an 
apple bee, a quilting, or a marriage called the neighborhood 
together. 

Then, at all times, there was the warm home hearth, where 
the boys and girls were generally found in their few hours 
of leisure; and, best of all, love was there also, and bound the 
circle firm and close, though perhaps the word itself was not 
often spoken. They had their seasons of relaxation and their 
times for serious and exalted thought. There were at least 
a few days in the calendar that were looked forward to, and 
when they came the innate poetry and higher sentiments of 
many hearts welled up and sought expression. The Christmas 
tree in America is said to be a gift of the Pennsylvania Ger- 
mans ;"* and the oft-repeated story of the Christ Kindlein 
brought ever a renewal of peace and joy, deep and pure and 
holy. 

4. Ladies' Home Journal, December, 1906. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Some: Early Industrial Enterprises. 

Besides their activities as farmers, millers, and tanners, 
the early Germai s of the Shenandoah Valley took an active 
and often a lead" g part in the establishing and maintaining 
of larger industrial enterprises. As early as 1742 Vestal's 
Iron Works were org\;nized in Frederick County;^ and al- 
though informjition is not at hand concerning the several in- 
dividual movers in the oject, it is likely that the Germans 
were represeii..ed more or less directly, inasmuch as they were 
numerous among the inhabitants of the district. In Kerche- 
val's day there was a place on Cedar Creek, probably on the 
line between Frederick and Shenandoah, known as "Zane's 
old iron works."- He tells us that the industry had been 
operated by "the late Gen. Isaac Zane." I am informed l)y 
Mr. T. K. Cartmell, of Winchester, that the enterprise was 
also known as Marlboro Iron Works; and that Isaac Zane, 
Jr., of Philadelphia, received a deed for the land, where the 
works were located, in 1765. About the middle of the 18th 
century, the Ephrata Brethren established at Staufferstadt, or 
Strasburg, a pottery industry, which has been continued liy 
other hands, through successive generations, to the present 
time.^ 

On a day in the latter part of October, 1781, as the news 
of Cornwallis' surrender was being vociferously received in 
Woodstock, Shenandoah County, a wealthy German and his 
family came into the town. It was Dirck Pennybacker, son of 
Col. John Pennybacker of the American army. Dirck Penny- 
backer had moved from Pennsylvania, a few years before, to 
a place near Sharpsburg, Md., and there had built an iron- 

1. Norris' History of the Lower Valley, p. 81. 

2. Kercheval's History of the Valley, pp. 50, ino, 104. 

3. Sachse's German Sectarians, Vol. II, p. 35G. 



INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES. 203 

working establishment; but a great freshet had swept away 
the labor of his hands, and now he was coming to try his 
fortunes in Virginia. Passing on through Woodstock, he 
went across the Massanutten IMountain into what is now Page 
County, and built Rcdwell Furnace on the Hawksbill Creek. 
After awhile, as the industry enlarged, the Pennybackers 
reached over the Massanutten and established a forge and 
associated iron works on Smith's Creek, a few miles below 
New Market. The place is still known as Pine Forge; and 
some of the massive limestone walls of the buildings yet re- 
main. Mr. P. E. Frederick owned and operated Pine Forge 
for some years prior to the Civil War, and occasionally there- 
after as late as about 1885. 

In 1810 Benjamin Pennybacker, son of Dirck and father 
of U. S. Senator Isaac Samuels Pennybacker, built for his 
home the spacious "White House,'' still standing and doing 
good service at Pine Forge. George M. and Joel Penny- 
backer, sons of Benjamin and brothers to the Senator, bought 
early in the 19th century large quantities of mountain land in 
western Shenandoah and Rockingham. In the former county 
they built, a few miles west of Woodstock, the well-known 
Liberty Furnace, which for many years supplied the iron used 
at Pine Forge."* In Rockingham County, in Brock's Gap, 
they also built a furnace ; but the ore there proved worthless. 
As a monument to their labor, however, the old stack remains 
and an oak tree has grown up through it. 

The Pennybackers were the pioneers in the iron-working 
industry in Shenandoah and Page; but others, both Germans 
and English, soon followed them in the same business. John 
Arthur built in 1809 the famous Columbia Furnace, still in 
operation, ten miles west of Woodstock. The Blackfords and 

4. These statements follow the account furnished the writer by Joel 
Pennybacker's daughter, Miss M. M. Pennybacker, of Linville Depot, 
Va.; but I am informed by Dr. S. J. Hoffman, of Woodstock, that 
Liberty Furnace was built in 1822 by Walter Newman, Esq. It is 
possible that Newman and the Pennybackers may have co-operated 
in the enterprise, or that one party succeeded the other. 



204 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Arthurs had a furnace in Powell's Fort, and probably one or 
two more near the western border of Shenandoah. Columbia 
Furnace came in time into the possession of George F. Hupp, 
of Strasburg, a paymaster in the War of 1812, and later an 
extensive iron master. Shortly prior to the Civil War the 
same property passed into the hands of another German, 
Samuel Myers, who owned at the same time the furnace near 
Shenandoah Alum Springs. After the Civil War, Columbia 
became the property of John Wissler, Esq., who operated it 
with great success till 1883. At that date it was purchased 
by Mr. H. C. Pearson.^ 

The establishment of these early furnaces gave an impetus 
to industry in various ways. Not only were men needed to 
build the structures and arrange the equipment ; to dig ore and 
haul it to the furnaces; to haul away the pig iron and the 
products of forge and foundry; but many laborers were also 
needed to cut timber, burn charcoal, and transport it to the 
places of consumption. Practically all of these early furnaces, 
forges, and foundries were dependent upon the supplies of 
charcoal produced in the vicinity — that is, in adjacent sec- 
tions of the Valley. The burning of charcoal, therefore, be- 
came an important industry in itself, and was evidently rather 
widely distributed, considering the fact that all the transpor- 
tation had to be done with wagons. The writer has fre- 
quently seen in cultivated fields, at a distance of eight or ten 
miles from the nearest furnace, the places that had been 
occupied by coal-pits probably a half-century or more before. 
These spots are usually circular, forty feet or more in di- 
ameter, and are easily recognized by the black color of the 
soil. Frequently small pieces of charcoal may still be turned 
up by the plough. The wood generally used. was pine, cut 

5. For the information herewith presented tlie writer is under 
special obligation to Miss M. M. Pennyl acker, of Linville Depot; 
Mr. Joel F. Kagey, of Hawkinstown; Miss Sarah M. Spengler, of 
Front Royal; and Dr. S. J. Hoffman! of Woodstock. The reader is 
also referred to Hardesty's Atlas for Rockingham County, p. 414. 



INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES. 205 

in cord-wood lengths. Oak and other varieties were also used, 
but the best charcoal was made from pine. The four-foot 
sticks were first used in building up a square pen, or chimney, 
by laying a sufficient number of them one upon another, lap- 
ping at the corners. Around this chimney as a center the 
wood was stacked on end, with the tops of the sticks leaning 
in perceptibly, and the stack was enlarged by successive rings 
until it covered a circle of thirty feet or more in diameter. 
Upon the top of the ground stack was made a smaller one of 
similar formation, and the whole was finished out in a rather 
flat convex heap, resembling somewhat, when covered with 
leaves and earth, a huge ant-hill. The fire was started at the 
bottom of the chimney — the hole in the center ; and the cover- 
ing of damp leaves and earth was to prevent the wood from 
burning rapidly in a blaze, since the charcoal must be formed 
by a slow, smouldering fire. The burning of charcoal is car- 
ried on to a considerable extent in the western sections of 
Shenandoah County to-day. Some of the furnaces still use 
charcoal, combining it with coke. Moreover, rather large 
quantities are shipped to other sections; and one may fre- 
quently see the wagons of the colliers, with their huge black 
* bodies," lumbering in and out of Woodstock and adjacent 
towns. 

One of the most important of the early iron-working estab- 
lishments in the Valley was located in the northeastern part 
of Augusta County, near the Rockingham line, on Mossy 
Creek. It was known as Miller's Iron Works; and the site 
is marked to-day by the old stone walls and chimneys, and by 
the village of Mossy Creek. The iron works were founded 
by Hery Miller, a German,^ sometime prior to the Revolu- 
tionary War. An account of Henry Miller's career has prob- 
ably never been published before; and inasmuch as the fol- 

6. This fact I have from a letter written Feb. 8, 1907, by a de- 
scendant, Mr. G. Mofifett Miller, of Jameson, Mo. — Mr. Miller died 
early in May, 1907. 



206 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

lowing one, given to the author by j\Ir. Samuel Forrer/ in 
a letter of January 31, 1907, contains so much of interest in a 
small compass, it is presented verbatim : 

From all I can gather, Henry Miller and Daniel Boone of Ken- 
tucky fame were cousins, and hunted and trapped together and 
traded with the Indians. Miller, finding evidences of iron ore de- 
posits, turned his attention to getting land grants and buying tracts 
from speculative owners in the Mossy Creek valley. He settled 
here sometime about 1748 or 1749 ;S and at one time owned over 
30,000 acres of land. A great body of his land was divided among 
his children, and the remainder was sold for distribution of proceeds. 
He died in 1796, which date I have found on his tombstone on my 
farm, where he was buried. He built the house in which I reside in 
1784. He died in North River Gap, at one of his sugar camps, 
where he was superintending the making of maple sugar, which was 
the only sugar obtainable in those days. The exact date at which 
he built the furnace and forge, known as Mossy Creek Iron Works, 
is not known, but is generally believed to be soon after he located 
here. The iron works were in the hands of his son, Samuel Miller, 
for many years after Henry Miller's death. My maternal grand- 
father, John Keneagy, came from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
and bought the iron works, and settled his son Henry on the prop- 
erty in 1834. Henry Keneagy lived here about ten years, when my 
father, Daniel Forrer, and mother took possession in 1844. Mr. 
Waddell writes me that he always took the Millers to be of English 
or Scotch origin; but the name Miller is found among the Germans 
as well as among the English and Scotch. » 

The Mossy Creek iron was manufactured into stoves and cooking 
implements (classed as hollow ware) and bar iron which was used 
for horseshoes, wagon tires, and general purposes. All of the bar 
iron was hammered under large hammers weighing 500 and 600 
pounds each, and was sold all through this Valley, in Fredericks- 
burg, Charlottesville, and also in the mountain country which is now 
West Virginia. It was transported altogether by wagons. 

7. Mr. Forrer's family came to Pennsylvania from the town of 
Winterthur, Switzerland, about the middle of the 18th century. His 
father operated the Mossy Creek iron works prior to the Civil War, 
as will appear. 

8. The date was probably several years later, if Miller and Boone 
were companions prior to Miller's settlement on Mossy Creek; for 
Boone was born only in 1735, and moved south from Pennsylvania 
in 1752, his family settling in North Carolina. 

9. It has already been noted that Henry Miller was a German. 



INDUSTRIAIv ENTERPRISES. 207 

In ail autumn issue of the Republican Farmer of 1811, pub- 
lished at Staunton, was found an advertisement of Miller's 
Iron Works, by Samuel Miller (son of Henry) and John M. 
Estill, administrators. The sale was set for September 6, 
1811; and together with the furnace and forge were to be 
sold 8000 acres of land, the whole "supposed to be the most 
valuable property of the kind in Virginia." ^^ 

It is probable that this sale had been purposely delayed for 
a number of years after Henry Miller's death, in order that 
minor heirs might attain to their majority. It is also prob- 
able that Samuel Miller purchased the iron works at this time. 
That this establishment was of more than usual importance 
is further shown by the fact that on March 30, 1837, a com- 
pany of gentlemen in Staunton secured a charter from the 
Virginia legislature for building a turnpike to a point on the 
Harrisonburg and Warm Springs Turnpike at or near Miller's 
Iron Works. The company was allowed a capital of ten 
thousand dollars, and the road was to be known as the Staun- 
ton and Iron Works Turnpike. ^^ 

At some time early in last century the Millers built a paper 
mill near the site of the ])rescnt Mossy Creek church. This 
mill was operated till a period near the middle of the century. 
About 1850 another paper mill was built a mile or two fur- 
ther up the creek, near the village of Mt. Solon. This mill 
finally came into the hands of Felix T. Sheets, who operated 
it till it was destroyed by fire about 1870. The material used 
for making paper at Sheets' mill — and doubtless at the earlier 
one also — consisted chiefly of rags gathered from every store 
and every accessible dwelling house throughout the Valley. 
The articles produced were printer's paper, wrapping paper, 
and paper boards, such as box boards and bonnet boards. 
Most of the newspapers of Augusta and Rockingham used 
the Mossy Creek paper. At one time the Richmond Whig 

10. Waddell's Annals of Augusta, p. 38G. 

11. Acts of Assembly of Virginia, 1837. 



208 THE VALI.EY GERMANS. 

used a great deal of it. The wrapping paper was made from 
straw, woolen rags, and some cotton rags, and was used by 
most of the local merchants. ^- 

Near Churchville, about nine miles southwest of Mossy 
Creek and the same distance northwest of Staunton, was once 
a nail factory, supposed to be one of the oldest in the country. 
It was provided with a tilt-hammer, driven by water power, 
wherewith the iron was first forged into long flat plates. 
These plates were then cut by another machine into nail 
lengths, but the heads of the nails were forged by hand. This 
"plant" was owned and operated by a blacksmith named Wil- 
liam Freal, a Pennsylvania German. ^•'^ 

If there was one class of enterprises more important than 
others in the development of the Shenandoah Valley three- 
quarters of a century ago, it was the building of turnpikes. 
From 1830 to 1840 a dozen or more such roads were con- 
structed according to specifications required in charters granted 
by the State legislature. These specifications usually re- 
quired that the road be of a certain width, within a certain, 
maximum grading, and be covered with macadam of a certain 
thickness — often a foot. The construction of several of the 
most important of these roads may be noticed more particu- 
larly in this connection, as appropriate to our subject and as 
illustrating the part taken by the citizens of German descent 
in the leading industrial enterprises of their repective locali- 
ties. 

The turnpike from Harrisonburg, in Rockingham County, 
to Warm Springs, in Bath County, was provided for by an 
Act of Assembly passed January 29, 1830. The distance be- 
tween the two terminal points is 75 or 80 miles, and the route 
passes around or over several large mountains. The persons 

12. For information regarding these paper mills the writer is in- 
debted chiefly to Mr. Samuel Ferrer, of Mossy Creek, and to Mrs. 
S. F. Miller, of Bridgewater. — See also Howe's Antiquities, p. 177. 

13. Staunton Semi-Weekly News, Jan. 9, 1902. 



INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES. 209 

heading the enterprise and those who should join them later 
were incorporated as the Warm Springs and Harrisonburg 
Turnpike Company; a capital of $40,000, to be increased as 
necessary, was authorized ; the shares of stock were to have a 
par value of fifty dollars each; and leading citizens interested 
in the project w^ere appointed at different places, chiefly along 
the route of the proposed highway, to open books and receive 
subscriptions. The men appointed at Harrisonburg for this 
purpose were the following : Joseph Cravens, Isaac Hardesty, 
George W. Piper, William McMahon, and Joseph Cline. At 
Rifeville,^^ Daniel Smith, Daniel Rife, John Allebaugh, 
Joseph Coffman, and Jacob Dinkle were appointed. Samuel 
Miller, Jonathan Shipman, Harvey McDowell, Andrew 
Erwin, and John Brower were designated at Miller's Iron 
W^orks, which was one of the places along the rouie named 
in the charter. Appointments were also made at Jenning's 
Gap, Staunton, Warm Springs, and Lewisburg; but these 
stations were mainly outside of the German territory, and 
consequently not more than two or three German names are 
found in the whole number of appointees of these places. 
Among the fifteen names already mentioned, however, of men 
at Harrisonburg, Rifeville, and the Iron Works, at least nine 
were Germans. 

The most famous and most constantly used road in the 
Valley, if not in the State, is the one already frequently 
mentioned, passing through Winchester, Woodstock, New 
Market, Harrisonburg, and Staunton, following in general the 
line of an ancient Indian trail and the later wagon road and 
stage road of the white men. On March 3, 1834, the Valley 
Turnpike Company was incorporated, and authorized to build 
a pike from Winchester to Harrisonburg, a distance of about 
70 miles. Subscriptions were to be received, in shares of $25 
each, to the sum of $250,000; and as soon as three-fifths of 

14. Rifeville must have been in the vicinity of Dayton or Bridge- 
water. The name is now extinct. 

—14 



210 



THE VALIvKY GERMANS, 



the stock should be subscribed by individual citizens, the 
State board of public works was to subscribe the balance on 
the part of the Commonwealth. The company was em- 
powerec^ to use as much of the old wagon road — termed in 
the charter the old stage road — as was found desirable. Inas- 
much as the committees appointed at the different stations to 
receive subscriptions were so largely made up of Germans, 
the several lists are given in full; and, for convenience, they 
are arranged in tabular form, as follows : 

Winchester: — John Heiskell, John M. Broome, Nathan 
Parkins, Isaac Hollingsworth, Obed Waite, Edgar W. 
Robinson, David M. Barton, Charles H. Clark, Abraham 
Miller. 

Newtown : — Joseph Long, John Allemong, John W. Grove, 
Joseph S. Ritenour, James G. Brooking. 

Middletown : — David S. Danner, John Smith Davidson, 
Alexander Catlett, Anderson Brown, Abraham Brinker. 

Strasburg: — -David Stickley, William McCord, Anthony 
Spangler, William Morris, Samuel Fisher. 

Woodstock : — Philip Williams, Jr., Absalom Rinker, 
Samuel Ott, William Moreland, Lorenzo Sibert, John 
Koontz, John Haas. 

Mt. Jackson : — Reuben Bird, Christopher Hickle, Philip 
Pitman, Rees Allen, Joseph Samuels. 

New Market : — Patrick McManus, Samuel Coffman, John 
Strayer, George Pennybacker. 

Sparta : — Isaac Thomas, John Cowan, Peter Koontz, Der- 
rick Pennybacker, Hiram Martz, George Rhodes. 

Edom Mills: — John Chrisman, George H. Chrisman, Jacob 
Lincoln, Christian Kratzer, David Henton, Jesse Rals- 
ton. 

Turlytown : — Samuel Cootes, Jacob Trumbo, John Rader, 
Sr., Shem Cochenour, John Shaver, John Oiler, 

Dayton : — vSamuel H. Coffman, John Brower, Martin Mil- 
ler, John Plerring, Martin Speck, George Airy, Sr. 



INDUSTRIAL, ENTERPRISES. 211 

Harrisonburg: — Robert Gray, John Kenny, James Hall, 
Isaac Long, Isaac Harciesty, James M. Huston. 

At a meeting of the stockholders on June 11, 1838, over 
four years after the charter was granted, the work was still 
in process. Other — perhaps additional — appointments were 
made to the committees for soliciting subscriptions. It was 
reported at this meeting that J. R. Anderson of Richmond had 
been appointed chief engineer. Bushrod Taylor was presi- 
dent. Philip Pitman, Wright Gatewood, Philip Williams, 
and Joel Pennybacker^^ were directors, representing the stock- 
holders ; John B. Breckenridge, Isaac Hardesty, Samuel 
Harnsberger, Reuben Moore, and James C. Shipman were 
directors on the part of the State. Bushrod Taylor was twice 
reelected president: on June 10, 1839, and on June 6, 1840. 
On June 4, 1841, Joel Pennybacker was elected to that 
office. ^^' 

On March 30, 1837, an Act was passed by the General As- 
sembly incorporating the Harrisonburg and Staunton Turn- 
pike Company. This road of twenty-five miles was evidently 
intended to be a continuation of the Valley Turnpike from 
Winchester to Harrisonburg; and the two companies appear 
to have been united at an early date. For this part of the 
road a capital of $100,000, in $25 shares, was authorized; 
and the following subscription committees were appointed : 

Harrisonburg: — John Kenny, Samuel Shacklett, John F. 

Effinger, Algernon Gray, Jacob Rohr, Hugh Bruffy, and 

M. Harvey^ Effinger. 
Mt. Crawford: — Edward Stevens, John Roller, Robert M. 

Grattan, Michael H. Harris, Peter Dinkle, James C. 

Shipman, William T. Newham, and George ICjser. 
Mt. Sidney: — John Seawright, Adam Link, Jacob Baylor, 

15. The iron master. 

16. For much of the iiiformatior. herewith presented I am indebted 
to Hon. J. G. Neff of Mt. Jackson, and to Miss M. M. Pennybacker 
of Linville Depot. 



212 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Michael Matizy, Samuel Hansberger, James Bourland, 
and William S. Hainger, 
Staunton : — William Poage, Philip Fishburn, Robert An- 
derson, Samuel M. Woodward, Benjamin Crawford, 
John C. Sowers, and Jefferson Kinney. 

Although one or two of these stations were getting beyond 
the German strongholds, at least eleven of these twenty-nine 
men were of that nationality. 

The writer is informed by Hon. Jacob G. Neff, of Mt. 
Jackson, Va., who is now president of the Valley Turnpike 
Company, that the total cost of the whole road was $425,000. 
Three-fifths of this amount, as we have seen, was subscribed 
by the private citizens along the route. Hundreds of the 
energetic and progressive farmers took stock ; and in Shenan- 
doah and Rockingham the German names predominate; in 
Augusta and Frederick the balance is perhaps in favor of the 
English and Scotch-Irish. 

Another early enterprise of considerable importance was 
the development of Orkney Springs, in western Shenandoah 
County, as a summer resort. On March 27, 1858, the Ork- 
ney Springs Company was incorporated by the Virginia leg- 
islature, and authorized to manage a capital stock of 
$100,000, and to acquire and hold as much as 5000 acres of 
land. David McKay, James M. Bradford, Samuel Cootes, 
Naason Bare, and J. O. Wingfield were the promoters of 
the enterprise. Of the five, Cootes and Bare were Germans. 
For many years Orkney was one of the most popular resorts 
for health and pleasure in the country and it has not yet 
altogether lost its prestige. 

For a number of years the Steenbergens, a family that 
appears to have belonged to the German nobility, occupied 
a prominent place in the commercial and industrial life of 
Shenandoah County and the Valley of Virginia. They were 
regarded as the wealthiest people in the county. William 
Steenbergen, the first of the name to locate in the Valley, 



INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES. 213 

married, about the year 1800, a daughter of Col. Taverner 
Beale, of Revolutionary note; and, after inheriting consid- 
erable property through his wife, built the limestone mansion 
still standing on the liluff just east of Smith's Creek, two 
miles above Mt. Jackson, and known as Mt. Airy. Mt. Airy 
was for a considerable period in the possession of Capt. John 
Meem ; and the eminence which it occupies commands an 
excellent view of the famous Meem's Bottoms, lying be- 
tween Smith's Creek and the North Branch of the Shenan- 
doah River. When building Mt. Airy, William Stcenbergen, 
or Baron Steenbergen, as he was sometimes called, imported 
for the structure two mantel-pieces from Italy, at a cost of 
more than a thousand dollars. He" and his sons, William 
and Beale, were extensively engaged in the cattle business. 
In 1810 or 1811, Wilham Steenbergen, likely the elder, was 
awarded several premiums on cattle at Georgetown, D. C, 
by the Columbian Agricultural Society. One steer, believed 
to be the largest ever raised in Virginia, attracted special 
attention. It was killed the following day at Krouse's 
slaughter-house, and the net beef weighed nearly 2000 
pounds.^" At one time Beale Steenbergen rounded up all 
the fat beeves in the country. After collecting all in the 
Valley, he put his agents on all the roads leading into Balti- 
more, and for awhile created an actual beef famine. He 
made a great deal of money by the scheme, but doubtless had 
cause to regret his shrewdness ever afterward. Because of 
this "corner in cattle" he was practically ostracized by his 
family and neighbors, and finally left the Valley.^^ 

This incident may fairly suggest a general truth, as well as 
a fitting word for the conclusion of our present study. There 

17. Scluiricht's German Element, Vol. II, p. 24. 

18. For information concerning the Steenbergens I am under obli- 
gation to Gen. G. S. Meem, Seattle, Wash.; Mrs. S. F. Miller, Bridge- 
water, Va.; Miss Mary C. Pittman, The Plains, Va.; Mr. Joel F. 
Kagey, Hawkinstown, Va.; and Eld. A. J. Kagey, dec'd, late of Mt. 
Jackson, Va. 



214 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

doubtless always have been individuals among the Valley 
of Virginia Germans who have allowed their greed for ma- 
terial gain to override their sense of right; but they have 
always done so at their peril, and they have often met rebuke 
at their own doors. Although this people have a talent for 
acquisition, they have also a keen sense of justice, and are 
not often found willing to win gold or position at the sacri- 
fice of principle. 



Appendix. 



A. 

List of Unclaimed Letters in the Harrisonburg Postoffice, 
Sept. 30, 1809. 

(From the Staunton Deutsche Virginier Adler of Nov. 18, 

1809.) 

Verzeichnisz der Briefe 

Welche in der Postoffice zu Harrisonburg (Virg.) am 30- 
sten September 1809, hegen, und wenn solche nicht vor den 
30sten nachsten December abgefordert werden, als todte 
Briefe an die General Postoffice zuriickgesand werden., 

A. Samuel Adams, Johann Albright, Johann Argabright, 
Johann Armetrout. 

B. Andreas Bair, Samuel Blackburn, Rechtsge^ -^hrter, Jo- 
hanna Bruen, Abraham Brenneman, Katherine Baker, Benja- 
min Braun, James Breedlove. 

C. Johann Clabough, Richard Custow, 

D. Joseph Davis, Louis Driver, Johann Dunnavan. 

F. Johann Firebough, Christian Funk 2, Herr Free. 

G. Wilhelm Garrott, Samuel Gilmore. 

H. Jacob Hesflinger, Oberst Benjamin Harrison 2, Wil- 
helm Herring, Joseph PLirrison (?), Samuel Hemphill, An- 
dreas Huling, Michael Harnasch. jr 

K. Heinrich Kephart, Jacob K - - ling. 
• L. Karter Lightfoot, Ludwig Launceford. 

M. Samuel Miller, Marie Mefford_^, Joseph Mouzy, Vio- 
letta Mouzy, Andreas M'Clelan, Johann Meadows. 

N, Johann Niebls. 

O. Marie Ocheltree, Edmon Ong. 

P. Wilhelm Pence, Josua Parry, Thomas Porter. 




216 t^e; vai^liCy Germans. 



■"T^. Georg Rader, Johann Right, Wilhelm Rawley. . 

S. Robert Stringfelter, Jacob Scott, Robert Sanford, Ja- 
cob .Schovvalter, Peter Swope, Salomon Schetters. 

T. Daniel Tharp, Ezekiel Thomas. 

V. William Vickers. 

W. Christoph VVcrvel, Peter William. 

— Tutwlieler, P. M. 

B. 

List of Unclaimed Letters in the Woodstock Postoffice, 
January 1, 182L 

(From the Woodstock Herald of January 10, 1821.) 

"A List of Letters remaining in the Postoffice at Wood- 
stock, Va., which if not taken out before the 31st of March 
next, will be sent to the General Post Office according to 
law." 

B. Col. Sam Bare 2, Henry Bowman, John Barb, Michael 
Bright, Jonas Burner, Wm. Byers, Adam Barb, Robert Batie, 
George Bowman, Jacob Burner, Jacob Beard, Wm. Bosser- 
man, P. P. Balden. 

C. Com'dt 13 th Regt. Jacob Coverstone, John Coffman. 

D. Richard Duncan, Elizabeth Donelson. 

E. John Effinger. 

F. Elizabeth Fry, Christiana Fawver, Sarah Fry, Joshua 
Foltz, Jacob Fravel, Thomas Frazier. ^ 

G. Henry Grant, Emanuel Graybill, Mary Grandstaff. 

H. Margaret Helsley, George Hottle, John Hausafluck, 
Henry Hockman, Daniel Helsel, Philip Hoffman, Jacob Hou- 
ser, Nath'l Humpston, Thomas Homston, Samuel Hickle. 
V. K. Jacob Kniesley, Mary Knop. 

L. John Lock, Henry Linn, Philip Long. 

M. Daniel Mclntorf, Hezekiah Moreland. 

O. Michael Ott. 

P. Richard Proctor, Aaron Proctor, Isaac Peer, Jos. Pain- 
ter, John Poke, Jos. Parker, Christena Peer, 



APPENDIX. 



217 



R. John Rols, Augustine Reedy, Jacob Rocmer, John Ry- 
man, John Rumbough, Adam Rodef'fer, John Rodeffer. 

S. Nichs. Schmucker, Samuel vSteart, John Snyder, Abm. 
Smootz, Jesse Smith, Jacob Sigler, Jos. Sonenstine, Daniel 
Sheetz. 

r. Samuel T. Turner. 

W. John Wimer, Emanuel Windle, Benj. Williams, Lewis 
Williams, Daniel Windle, Margaret Windle, Daniel Webb, 
James Waugh, George Will. 

Z. George Zircle. 

—A. Fravel, P. M. 



Names of Persons whose Wi 
County Will 

Covering the Period from 1778 to 1786. 



lis are Recorded in Augusta 
Book No. 6, 



James Alexander 
James Archer 
Gabriel Alexander 
Jas. Anderson 
David Allen 
John Archer 
Robt. Alexander 
John Anderson 
Thomas Bradshaw 
Wm. Blackwood 
David Bell /' 

James Buchanan"^ 
Robert Burns 
Samuel Black 
James Bell 
Jemima Bradley 
Adam Broaback 
Robt. Bratton 
Wm. Burke 



David Cunningham 
Chas. CampbeVi 
Wm. Chri'.-;tian 
Rebecca C.aruthers 
George Crawford 
Elizabeth Clark 
Robt. Campbell 
Chri",. Clemmons 
Root. Caldwell 
John Christian 
Isaac Carson 
Valentine Cloninger 
Chas. Donnelly 
Casper Eakert 
John Estill 
John Flesher 
John Francis 
Lanly Graham 
James Gamble 



axs 



THE VALLEY GERMANS. 



Archibald Gilkenson 
Elizabeth Guy 
James Gilmore 
Edward Hinds 
Archibald Henderson 
James Hogshead 
Saml. Henderson 
James Henderson 
John Henderson 
Wm. Johnson 
James Kirk 
William Kerr 
John Logan 
Andrew Lewell 
James Lessley - 
William Long 'L ^ 
Jacob Lockhart 
Matthew Lettimore 
Bafiierd La^ce 
■John Mitchell 
John McDonough 
John McMahon 
Richard Madison 
Wm. McClintock 
Robert Mills 
Adam Murray 
Morris Ofriel 



Nathan Ragland 
Eph. Richardson 
John Ramsay 
Daniel Ramsay 
Robert Rusk 
Matthew Robenson 

Ramsay 

Edward Rutledge - 
Jos. Skidmore - 
V Margaret Sproul 
Leonard Shounds 
James Sawyers 
Thomas Stevenson 
William Tees 
Moses Thompson ^ 
James Tate. • ■ 
Wm. Thompson ^ 
John P. Vance 
Jacob Vanlear 
Edward Warner 
Francis Were 
James Wallace 
William Woods 
Thomas Waddle 

Isaac • 

John Young 
John Young 

D. 



Names of Persons whose Wills are -Recorded in Fredei 
County Will Book No. 4, 

Covering the Period from 1770 to 1783. 
Gabriel Amiss ^Vm. Abernatha 

• Peter Antle L^wis Bird 

Francis Allen John Branson 



APPENDIX. 



219 



Charles Burk 
Abraham Brehoii 
Henry Bedinger 
Henry Brinker 
Jeremiah Beall 
Christian Blank 
John Berry 
Saml, Blackburn 
Thomas Barron 
Richard Calvert 
John Chinoweth 
Wm. Chinoweth 
Wm. Calmes 
Martin Crydar 
James Colvill 
.Jacob Christman 
Thomas Craig 
Peter Catlet 
Henry Carrer 
David Denny 
William Death 
Samuel Earle 
Godfrey Eylor 
William Ewing 
Mary Fulton 
George Fogelsong 
William Frost 
Christian Fogelsong 
Andrew Frictley 
Humphrey Fullerton 
Thomas Lord Fairfax ' 
Timothy Fuly 
. Richard Foley 
David Glass 
Charles Grim 
Mathias Grove 



/ 



Richard Hulse 
Joseph Hawkins 
Luke Hood 
Sigismund Henly 
John Ha ton 
Job Hastings 
George Harrison 
John Hope ' 
James Hamilton' 
Stephen Hotzenpeller 
Robert Haning 
Thomas Helm 
George Hamton ■ 
Peter Helviston 
John Hotsenfelar 
Isaac Hukman 
Michael Humble 
Wm. Hankins 
George Hendry 
John Humphreys 
Wm. lolliffe 
James Jones • 
Godfrey Ilor 
James lolliffe 
John lolliffe 
Elizabeth lolliffe 
Jacob Koughnauer 
Wm. Kerfoot 
Geo. Lyndemooth 
Saml. Litler 
John Lerhen ( ?) 
John Laurence 
John Larrick, Sr. 
Peter Lehne 
Peter Lerew 
Geo. Laubinger 



220 



THE VALIvEY GERMANS. 



Peter Mauk 
Elizabeth Milburn 
\ngus McDonald 
. rederick Mauk 
Vallingtine Miller 
William Neil 
Nicholas Princler 
W'm. Pritchard 
John Painter 
Oullerey Pitzer 
Joseph Pollard 
Thomas Provens 
Isaac Parkins 
Henry Peyton 
Michael Pevice 
Henry Rees 
Edward Reed 
William Russell 
Robert Russell 
George .Ross 
Ann Reed 
Josiah Ridgway 
Daniel vStout 
John Stickley 



Sarah Shepherd 
Frederick Steep 
Peter Sperry 
Taliaferro Stribling 
Laurence Stephens 
George Smith 
Benj. Sedwick 
Ralph Thompson • 
Zebulon Tharp 
David Watts 
James Willson 
Robert Willson 
Peter Wolfe 
Wm. Weathers 
Moses Walton 
John Bell 
Samuel Bevin 
Thomas Babb -- 
Sarah Beckett 
Joseph Bowman 
John Byrns 
Mary Barrett 
James Barnett 



E. 



Names of Persons who Sold Land in Rockingham County 
from 1777 to 1793. 

From the First Deed Book, No. 0. 



Philip Armentrout 
John Ashburner 
Catherine Alstott 
John Alstott 
A. Armentrout 
Saml. Bear 



John Brunk 
David Byers 
Michael Bowyer" 
Benj, Berryv"^ 
John Breeden 
Henry Black 



"James Beard 


Wm. Hook 


Wm. Campbell 


.Peter Harman 


Ludwig Circle 


B. Johnston 


Tiiomas Campbell 


Joshua Jackson 


Wm. Chestnut 


John Jordan 


Clias. Calahan 


George Koogler 


Peter Conrad ^ ** 


Deter Kouts 


Jos. Claypool Wv ■'->'- 


John Kring * "^ 


Valentine Cook \ 


George Keisel 


George Davis 


Elisha Knox 


James Denniston 


Jacob Kisling 


Hugh Duglas 


Abram Lincoln « , 

Thomas L5«*g^n JJLr^***' ' ■^l^''^^'^^ 
Peter Lam </ 


John Drake 


James Dyer 


Wm. Dever 


John Madison 


Edward Ervin 


Wm. Morris 


Evan Evans 


Nicholas Mace 


John Eddy 


John Miller 


Jacob Elsvvorth 


Jacob Nicholas 


Gasper Faught 


Hy Null 


Geo. Freedly 


William Oler 


John Fowler 


Wm. Pickerin 


James Finney 


Saml. Philips 


Mary Fitch 


Aug. Price 


M. Fifer 


John Petty 


Nicholas Fogle 


Adam Pipher 


George Fisher 


Jos. Rutherford 


Isaac Gum 


Peter Roller 


Michael Gibbs 


Cornelius Ruddell " 


Jacob Gross 


John Robinson 


Conrad Good 


Brewer Reeves 


John Gordon 


Robt. Shankland 


Thomas Harrison 


Daniel Smith 


Robert Henderson 


Nath. Scott 


James Harris 


Adam Shearman 


Jacob Harnsberger 


James Skidmore 



22i5 



THE VALLEY GERMANS. 



Adam Sellers 
Jacob Shirey 
Jacob Spitler 
John Spratt - 
John Tanner 
Catherine Teeter 
N. Troarboiigh 
John Thomas 
Peter Vanimer 



John Voice 
J. Vanferson 
Ludwig Waggoner 
Michael Wise 
Martin Whitzel 
John Wilson 
John Warren 
Conrad Young 
Ludvvig Zircle 



Names of Persons whose Wills are Recorded in Shenandoah 
County Will Book A, 



Covering the Period 

Joseph Abell 
Frederick Andrick 
Reuben Allen 
Adam Broadback 
Henry Bohman 
Jacob Burner 
Ann Crum 
Elias Coffield 
James Cornagie 
Richard Campbell 
Jacob Copenhaber 
Joseph Clevinger 
Abram Denton 
Philip Darting 
Adam Darting ' 
Mary Dust 
Isaac Durst 
Christo Dosh 
Wm. Downey 
Christian Dellinger 
Rachel Egan 



from 1772 to 1784. 

Adam Funk 
Joseph Frye 
John M. Foltz 
Jacob Guyger 
Christopher Gistert 
Ulry Gfeller 
John Gilcock 
George Huddell 
Peter Hoop 
Wm. Hoover 
Harding Henry 
John Hoy 
William Hunt 
John Hall 
Abraham Hendrich 
George Keller 
George Maurer 
Jacob Miller 
. Wm. Miller 
Jno. Mackinturf, Sr 
Jacob Miller 



APPENDIX. 



223 



Anthony Nisely 
Jacob Offenbacker 
Jeremiah Odell 
Samuel Odle 
Jacob Offcnbocker 
Ulrich Peters 
Henry Pfiffer 
Abraham Pickenberger 
Jacob Roharer 
David Rotheheffer 
Susanna Rantz 
Peter Ruffner 
John Ruddelj 



/■ 



Henry Rickaboker 
Stephen Showman 
/Francis Slaughter - 
Martin Snyder 
Henry Surber 
Jacob Snyder 
Joseph Smith 
Michael Sommers 
John Lievely 
Lawrence Snapp 
Wm. White ' 
Philip Wisman 
Adam Yeager 



Members of the House of Burgesses from the Valley Coun- 
ties from 1742 to 1775, and of the Virginia Conventions of 
1775 and 1776' 

Frederick County. 

Samuel Earle— 1742; 1745-7. 
* Lawrence Washington — 1744. 

[A?] Campbell— 1745-7.' 

George Fairfax — 1748-9. 

Gabriel Jones— 1748-54. 

George William Fairfax — 1752-5. 

Perkins — 1754-5. — 

Hugh West— 1756-8. 

Thomas Swearingen — 1756-8. 
. George Washington— 1758-65. ^ 

Thomas Bryan Martin — 1758-61. 

George Mercer — 1761-5. 

Robert Rutherford— 1766-72. 
-" James Wood — 1766-76. 

Isaac Zane — 1773-6. 

Charles Mynn Thruston— 1775. 



224: THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Augusta County. 

John Madison — 1748-54. 
John Wilson— 1748-72. 
James Patton — 1754-5. 

- Gabriel Jones— 1756-8; 1769-71. 
Israel Christian— 1758-65. 
William Preston— 1765-8. 
Samuel McDowell— 1772-6. 

' Charles Lewis — 1773-4. 

George Matthews — 1775. 
-Thomas Lewis — 1775-6. 

John Harvie — 1775. 

George Roots — 1775. 

Berkeley County. 

- Thomas Hite— 1772-4. 
Robert Rutherford— 1772-6. 

- John Hite— 1775. 
Adam Stephen — 1775. 
William Drew— 1775-6. 

Dunmore County. 

Francis Slaughter — 1772-5. 
Joseph Watson — 1772-3. 
Abraham Bird— 1775-6. 
-Jonathan Clarke — 1775. 
Peter Muhlenberg — 1775. 
John Tipton— 1776. 

{Compiled chiefly from Stanard's Colonial Virginia 
Register. ) 

H. 

Members of the Virginia Senate from the Valley Counties, 
1883 to 1907. 

(After 1893, Augusta should be understood as having with 



APPENDIX. 225 

it the City of Staunton, and Frederick as having with it the 
City of Winchester.) 

Augusta County. 

Absalom Koiner — 1883-9. 

Edward Echols— 1890-97; '99-00; '06-07. 

John N. Opie— 1898-05. 

Clarke, Frederick, and Warren. 

John T. Lovell— 1883. 
J. M. McCormick— 1884-5. 
Marshall McCormick— 1886-7. 
T. W. Harrison— 1888-92. 

Clarke, Page, and Warren. 

T. W. Harrison— 1893-4. 
Thomas D. Gold— 1895; 1900-03. 

E. H. Jackson— 1896-9. 
M. J. Fulton— 1904-7. 

Rockingham County. 

V John F. Lewis— 1883-5. 
J. B. Webb— 1883-4. 
George B. Keezcll— 1885-7; 1896-07. 
John Acker— 1888-91. 
Thomas K. Harnsberger — 1892-5. 

Shenandoah and Page. 

H. H. Riddleberger— 1883. 
Amos K. Grim— 1884-7. 
H. J. Smoot— 1888-91. 
M. L. Walton— 1892. 

Shenandoah and Frederick. 

M. L. Walton— 1893-5. 
J. G. McCune— 1896-9. 
S. L. Lupton— 1900-03. 

F. S. Tavenner— 1904-7. 

—15 



226 THE VALrLEY GERMANS. 

I. 

Members of the Virginia House of Delegates from the 
Valley Counties, 1883 to 1907. 

Augusta County. 

Marshall Hanger— 1883.— 
James H. Skinner — 1883. 
Edward Echols— 1884-9. 
John N. Opie— 1884-5. 
A. B. Lightner— 1886-7; '90-91. 
J. H. Crawford— 1888-9. 
George M. Cochran— 1890-91. 
George W. Koiner— 1892-5. 
H. J. Williams— 1892-3. 
Thomas R. N. Speck— 1894-5. 
Silas H. Walker— 1896-9; 1902-7. 
C. W. Simms— 1896-7. 
J. W. Churchman— 1898-07. 
John W. Todd— 1900-1. 

Clarke and Warren. 

Alexander M. Earle— 1883. 

David Meade— 1884-5. 

H. H. Downing— 1886-7; 1890-91; '94-5. 

A. Moore, Jr.— 1888-9. 

William T. Kerfoot— 1892-3. 

S. S. Thomas— 1896-9. 

A. L. Warthen— 1900-01. 

Blackburn Smith— 1902-5. 

M. M. Johnson— 1906-7. 

Frederick County. 

Holmes Conrad— 1883. 
R. T. Barton— 1884-5. 
John V. Tavenner— 1886-7. - 
John M. Silver— 1888-91. 



'appendix. 227 



Joseph A. Miller— 1892-3. 
Charles F. Nelson— 1894-5. 
James K. McCann— 1896-7. 
E. C. Jordan— 1898-05. 
Richard E. Byrd— 1906-7. 

Page County. 

A. K. Grim— 1883. 
R.. G. Mauck— 1884-7. 
Thomas J. Graves— 1888-91. 

C. E. Graves— 1892-3. 

Page and Rappahannock. 

B. W. Petty— 1894-5. 
Richard S. Parks— 1896-01. 
G. C. Elkins— 1902-3. 

J. Hunton Wood— 1904-5. 

D. S. Louderback— 1906-7. 

Rockingham County. 

Henry B. Harnsberger — 1883. 

Philander Herring— 1883-4. 

John F. Soule— 1884-5. 

George G. Grattan— 1885. 

J. B. Webb— 1886-9. 

John Acker— 1886-7. 

J. E. Sanger— 1888-9. 

T. K. Harnsberger— 1890-1. 

W. H. Blakemore— 1890-5; '98-01, 

Charles E. Fahrney— 1892-5. 

W. Harvey Zirklc— 1896-7. 

B. G. Patterson— 1896-7; 1900. 

D. M. Swit/ccr— 1898-9. 

Frank Ralston— 1901. 

J. T. Robson— 1902-5. 

George E. Sipe — 1902-3. 

H. M. Rogers— 1904-7. 

P. B. F. Goode— 1906-7. 



228 THU VAU.KY GItRMANS. 

Shenandoah County, 

George J. Grandstaff— 1883-5. 
F. E. Rice— 1886-7. 
P. W. Magrnder— 1888-93. 
Jacob G. Neff— 1894-5. 
W. A. Sager— 1896-7. 
Joseph M. Bauserman — 1898-9. 
Josiah Stickley— 1900-01. 
Samuel J. Hoffman— 1902-5. 
B. B. Bowman— 1906-7. 
(The lists from i88^ to ipoy have been compiled chiefly from 
the IVarrock-Richardson Almanac.) 

J. 

Some German Members of the United States Congress from 
the Valley of Virginia. 

Senate. 

Isaac Samuels Pennybacker (1805-1847), of Shenandoah 
County: 1845-7. 

Harrison Holt Riddleberger (1844-1890), of Shenandoah 
Cov.ity: 1883-9. 

House of Representatives. 

Isaac Leffler: 1827-9. (Leffler may have belonged to a 
section west of the Valley.) 

John Paul, of Rockingham County^ 1882-3. — Judge Paul's 
mother was German; his father's family was French. 

Isaac Samuels Pennybacker (1805-1847), of Shenandoah 
County: 1837-9. 

Green B. Samuels, of Shenandoah County: 1839-41. 

Daniel Sheffey (— 1830), of Augusta County: 1809-17. 
— Mr. Sheffey was elected from southwest Virginia, but lo- 
cated at Staunton later. 

Thomas V. Swearingen, of Jefferson (?) County: 
1819-22. 

Jacob Swoope, of Augusta County: 1809-11. 



APPENDIX. 229 

K. 

Some German Members of the Virginia Legislature from 
the Valley of Virginia, 

Not already Mentioned in Appendixes G, H, and I. 
Augusta County. 

Charles M. Roller. 

Daniel Sheffey : 1823. 

H. W. Sheffey: 1852-3; Speaker of the House of Delegates 
during the Civil War. 

Nicholas K. Trout: 1865 (?). — Member of Virginia Sen- 
ate. 

Berkeley County. 

Adam Stephens. — Representative in the convention of 1788. 

Frederick County. i 

Henry Bedinger: 1846. 

Robert Y. Conrad: 1840. — Member of Virginia Senate. 

M. R. Kaufman: 1860. 

Daniel E. Wotring (1830—). 

Jefferson County. 
T. W(?). Swearingen: 1805-16. ' 

Page County. 

Andrew Keyser: 1852-3. 
Henry W. Keyser. 
M. Spitler: 1856. 

Rockingham County. 

Samuel A. Coffman. 
J. Conrad: 1836. 
JohnKoontz: 1795-8. 
k. Martz: 1846. 



230 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

John D. Pennybacker (—1904) : 1859-63.— Member of 
Virginia Senate. 

John E. Roller: 1869-73. — Member of Virginia Senate. 
A. Waterman: 1831-4. 

Shenandoah County. 

Samuel Bare ( — c. 1844) : Member of Legislature about 
1830-1. 

Samuel Coffman : 1831-4. 

Joel Pennybacker: 1840. — Member of Virginia Senate. 

Philip Pittmann : 1864-5. — Member of Virginia Senate. 

Absalom Rinker: c. 1836. 

Jacob Rinker. — Was a member of the vState Legislature 
for many years, following the Revolutionary War. 

W. M. Seibert: 1860. 

Joseph Stover Spengler (1790—1876). - 

Philip Spengler (1761—): c. 1815. 

Joseph B. Strayer, 

The foregoing lists (Appendixes J. and K.) have been 
compiled from various sources. They are not regarded ai 
complete. 

Revolutionary Pensioners Living in Valley Counties 

in 1835. 

In the year 1835 the Secretary of War prepared and pulj- 
lished a list of all Revolutionary Pensioners then living in 
the various States, from which list tlie following names have 
been secured. It is possible that a few of the men may have 
served only in the War of 1812, and not in the Revolution; 
but certainly the great majority of them were soldiers in the 
struggle for independence, and most of them had doubtless en- 
listed from the respective counties in which they were living 
in 1835. No pension was granted except for actual service 
for a period of at least six months. 

The lists for Rockingham were published by Mr. Charles 
E. Kemper of Washington, D. C, in the Rockingham Regis- 



APrr^NDix. 231 

tcr of January 2, 1903. The other Hsts were furnished the 
author, by Mr. Kemper's kindness, with.in the last few 
months : and, so far as is known, they have not been pub- 
hslicd Ijefore. 

L. 

Frederick County. 

Under Act of March 18, 1818. 

William Albert, Penn. Line. 
Cornelius Beazley, Penn. Line. 
James Beckman, Va. Line. 
Christopher Bedinger, Penn. Line. 
John Bcgeant, Va. Line. 
William Braithwait, Va. Line. 
William Burke, Va. Line. 
Dennis Bush, Va. Line. 
John Campbell, Penn. Line. 
Samuel Cox, Va. Line. 
Thomas Crawford, Va. Line. 
Thomas Foster, artificer, Va. Line. 
John Grove, Penn. Line. 
Daniel Haley, Va. Line. 
James Hamilton, Va. Line. 
John Haney, Md. Line. 

Simon Harrell, A'^a. Line. „«. 

John Harris 4th, Va. Line. 
John Hefferlin, Va. Line. 
Nathaniel Henry, Lt., N. Y. Line. 
Samuel Hickie, Va. Line. 
Jacob Hunt, Md. Line. 
Frederick Imhoff, Penn. Line. 
Claude F. Jeannerel, Va. Line. 
James Johnson, Penn. Line. 
John Keger. Va. Line. 
William Kingore, Va. Line. 
Archibald McDonald, Va. Line. 



232 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Alexander McMiillen, Va. Line. 
James Martin, Penn. Line. 
Daniel Miller, Va. Line. 
Richard Miirry, Va. Line. 
Dennis Obriean, Md. Line. 
James Oliver, Va. Line. 
Christian Orendorf, Capt., Md. Line. 
Moses Perry, Va. Line. 
Lewis St. John, Va. Line. 
George Seifert, Va. Line. 
Jeremiah Sergeant, Va. Line. 
i5» Robert Sherman, Va. Line. 

John Smith 4th, Penn. Line. 
* James Thompson, Va. Line. 
G. Van Landengham,--Va. Line. 
John Williams 2d, Penn. Line. 
George Wright, Va. Line. 

Under Act of June 7, 1832. 

/ James Barr, Va. Militia. /^ 

/ Henry Beatty, Va. Militia. 
Jacob Berlin, Penn. Militia. 
George Black, Va. Line. 
Geo. Blakeman, Ensign, Va. Militia. 
■ himphrey Brook, Aiddecamp, Va. Line. 
" " Philip P. Buckner, Sen, Va. Militia. 

John Campbell, Va. Militia. 
John Colbert, Va. State Troops. 
Peter Edwards, Va. Cont. Line. 
James Foster, Va. Militia. 
John Grim, Va. Militia. 
Samuel Hart, N. J. Militia. 
George Hensell, Va. Militia. 
Michael Humble, Va. State Troops. 
Henry Knipe, Ser., Va. Militia. 
Conrad Kramer, Q. Ser., Va. Line. 



APrENDix. 233 



John Krim. N. J. Militia. 
Peter Lauck. Va. Line. 
George Lonas, Va. Line. 
Basil Lucas, Ser., Va. Militia. 
Jas. M. Marshall, Lt., Va. Line. 
Thos. Mitchell, Seaman, Va. Navy. 
William Monroe, Va. Line. 
Hugh Parrel 1, Va. State Troops. 
Wm. Phillips, Va. Line. 
John Piper, Va. State Troops. 
Andrew Pittman, Va. Militia. 
James Rieley, Va. Militia. 
John Schultz, Va. Line. 
Jacoh Shade. Md. Militia. 
Thomas Smart. Penn. Militia. 
Alex. Smith, Mass. Militia. 
John Smith, Col., Va. State Troops. 
^Xieorge Snapi), Va. Line. 
Jacob Sperry, Va. Militia. 

Invalid Pensioners. 

George Black, 12th Va. Reg. 
William Bishop, 12th Va. Reg. 
John Bryant, 7th Inf. 
Samuel Griffith. 5th Reg. U. S. Inf. 
Andrew McGuire, 1st Va. Reg. 
Robert White, Lt., 12th Va. Reg. 

M. 

Page County. 

Under Act of June 7, 1832. 

Henry Aleshite, Penn. Line. ^ 
Owen Campbell, Va. Line. 
— Reuben Cave, Va. State Troops. ' i .■■ ^ '.-t "^ 
Richard Jenkins, Va. Militia. 



23i THE VALI^KY GERMANS, 

Andrew Keyser, Va. Line. 
Joseph Sampson, Va. Line. 
Thomas Tharp, Va. Line. 

N. 

Rockingham County. 

Under Act of March 18, 1818. 

Jacob Conrad, Va. Line. Died June 3, 1824. 
Jacob Smith, Va. Line. Age 75. 

Under Act of June 7, 1832. 

Chris. Ammon, Ser., Va. Mil. Age 75. 

Geo. Argubright, Va. Mil. Age 75. 

James Barleys, Va. Mil. Age 74. ^ 
-Benj. Berry, Va. Mil. Age 76.^^ 

Peter Brown, N. Y. Mil. Age 86. 

Wm. Bryan, Va. Mil. Age 72. 

Andrew Byrd, Va. Line. Age 79. 

Richard Custer, Va. Mil. Age 77. 

Leonard Davis, Va. Mil. Age 72. 

Ph. Haitsman, Penn. Mil. Age 75. 

Law. Howderskell, Va. ]\Iil. Age 82. 

Andrew Huling, Va. Mil. Age 7Z. 

Chris. Kapplinger, Va. Troops. Age 84. 
♦Jacob Kisling, Va. Troops. Age 74. 
V Philip Koontz, Va. Line. Age 82. 
- Thomas Lewis, Lt., Va. Mil. Age 74. - 

Michael Lore, Va. Troops. Age 79. 

Michael Mayer, Va. Mil. Age 89. 

James Meadows, Va. Line. Age 74. 

John Nicholas, N. C. Mil. Age 78. 

James Palmer, Va. Mil. Age 70. 

John Pence, Sr., Va. Mil. Age 79. 
■ Conrad Radeer, Va. Troops. Age 78. 

Henry Radeer, Va. Mil. Age 77. 

Lawrence Raynes, Va. Mil. Age 74. 



APriCNDix. 235 

James Rogers, Del. Mil, Age 78. 
Jose Rogers, Del. Mil. Age 75. 
David Rolstone, Va. Mil. Age 7i. 
James Ronton, Va. Mil. Age -72. 
Melchior Scgrist, Ra. Mil. Age 79. 
George Stepler, Va. Mil. Age 75. 
Matthew Tate, Va. Mil. Age 7Z. 
John Taylor, Va. Mil. Age 77. 
Henry Wheczell, Va. Mil. Age 76. 

Revolutionary Pensioners still Living in 1840. 

Elizabeth Brown, aged 83. 

Andrew Huling, aged 75. 
- Philip Koontz, aged 95. 

James Meadows, aged 81. 

Henry Hammer, aged 84. 

Leonard Davis, aged 79. 
7 Francis Yancey, aged, 70. 

William Bryan, aged 78. 

Agnes Vanpelt, aged 77. 

David Ralston, aged 79. 

Magdaline Bible, aged 75. 
_ Mary Gibbons, aged 80., 
^ Philip Hartman, aged 83. 

Matthew Tate, aged 87. 

James Palmer, aged 77 . 

O. 

Shenandoah County. 

Under Act of March 18, 1818. 

Daniel Anderson, Va. Line. 

Philip Barr, Va. Line. 

John Bly, Va. Line. 

George Glower, Va. Line. ! 

Leonard Cooper, Capt., Va. Line. 

Thomas Dodson, Penn. Line. 



236 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Joachim Fetzer, Va. Line. 

Archibald Finley, Va. Line. 

Isaac Gi!)bons, Dragoon, Penn. Line. 

Josepli Golloday, Va. Line. 

Wilham Grady, Va. Line. 

Daniel Gray, Dragoon, Va. Line. 

Peter Grim, Va. Line. 

Drury Jackson, Va. Line. 

Benj. McKnight, Va. Line. 

Lewis Miller, Va. Line. 

Collin Mitchnm, Cor., S. C. Line. 

Abner Newman, Va. Line. 

Thomas Purdonr, Va. Line. 

John Rolls, Va. Line. 

John Smith 5th, Va. Line. 

Elias Turner, Va. Line. 

Under Act of June 7,. 1832. 

Jeffrey Collins, Va. Mil. 
George Fletcher, Va. Mil. 
Joshua Foltz, Vi. Line. 
Jacob Rpij.y, Va. Mil. 
Moses Henry, Va. Line. 
Thomas Hudson, Va. Troops. 
Jacob Kepps, Va. Mil. 
John Lary, Va. Line. 
Jacob Leneweaver, Va. Mil. 
Christian Miller, Ser., Va. Mil. 
David O'Rourke, Ser., Va. Mil. 
Henry Roarer, Va. Troops. 
Jacob Roland, Penn. Mil. 
Robert Russell, Va. Troops. 
Martin Zea, Va. Troops. 

Invalid Pensioners. 

John Berry, 9th Va. Reg. 

Jesse Brown, 2d Reg. U. S. Inf. 



TVPPtNDix. 237 



Dennis O'Kcnell, lltli Va. Reg. 
Willis Rumsey, 20th U. S. Inf. 
John Stanshury, U. S. Inf. 
WilHam Tipton, Parker's Reg. 



BibHography. 
Archives. 
Spottsylvania County Records: 1721 to the present. 
These records are fairly complete, and cover the period of the 
first settlements in the Valley of Virginia, but do not appear 
to contain any references to persons or places in that section. 
There are, however, records referring to the Germans of 
Germanna and adjacent sections. The records of Spottsyl- 
vania, from 1721 to 1800, were printed in abstract and pub- 
lished in a single volume in. 1905, by Fox, Duffield & Co., 
New York. 

Orange County Records : 1734 to the present. The records 
are in good condition and, with reference to wills and deeds, 
about complete. They contain frequent entries of Valley 
Germans beginning W'itb the year 1735, 

Frederick County Records: 1743 to the present. The rec- 
ords of deeds and wills are practically complete from the be-' 
ginning. Many of the original documents were presented in 
German, and some suffered not a little in translation by clerks, 
who were much more English than German. 

Augusta County Records: 1745 to the present. The 
records of Augusta are in excellent condition ; and, like those 
of Frederick, are of great interest and historical value. 

Shenandoah County Records: 1772 to the present. A 
great many of the original papers must have been in German; 
and many of the signatures are recorded in German script. 

Rockingham County Records: 1777 to the present. Many 
of the old records in Rockingham were destroyed by fire, 
some wholly, some partly, during the Civil War. A number 
of these have been restored as fully as possible; but some are 



238 the; VAI.I.EY GERMANS. 

perhaps" in a condition that is irreparable, even though they 
are not altogether destroyed. 

The Virginia State Library and the Virginia Historical So- 
ciety both have at Richmond many documents of interest and 
value relating to the people and places in the Valley. 

For the later periods, the records of Berkeley County 
(1772—) and Jefferson County (1801—), West Virginia; 
Page County (1831—), Warren County (1836—), and 
Clarke County (1836 — ), Virginia, will also doubtless be 
found valuable; though the present writer has not consulted 
them. 

Books and Pamphlets. 

Anbury, Major Thomas. — Travels through the Interior Parts 
of America; in a Series of Letters. Two vols., 906 pp., 8vo, 
illust. London, 1791: Printed for Wm. Lane, Leaden- 
hall-Street. — The letters were written in 1776-1781. In 
the second volume are some from Charlottesville, Rich- 
mond, Winchester, Frederick, Md., and other places in ad- 
jacent sections. Much is told of the Hessians, the natives, 
the physical features of the country, etc. 

Barringc^ Dr. ?. B., et al. — The University of Virginia : Its 
• History, Etc., with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of 
Founders, Benefactors, Officers and Alumni. Two yo1^, 
1064 pp., 4to, illust. New York, 1904: Lewis Publishing 
Co. — These volumes contain sketches of James Bumgard- 
ner, Jr., Holmes Conrad, H. H. Henkel, A. M. Henkel, 
D. B. Lucas, John Paul, C. B. Rouss, and other Valley of 
Virginia men of German descent. 

Bernheim, G. D. — History of the German Settlements and of 
the Lutheran Church in North and South Carolina, From 
the Earliest Period of the Colonization of the Dutch, Ger- 
man and Swiss Settlers to the Close of the First Half of the 
Present Century. Pp. xvi— 557, 12mo. Philadelphia, 
1872: The Lutheran Book Store, 117 N. 6th Street. 



APPENDIX. 239 

Boogher, W. F. — Gleanings of Virginia History. An His- 
torical and Genealogical Collection, Largely from Original 
Sources. Pp. viii — 442, 8vo. Washington, 1903 : Pub- 
lished by the Author. — Contains, among other things, sev- 
eral valuable rosters and schedules of the French and Indian 
War and the Revolution, from Plening's Statutes, records 
of the U. S. Pension Office, etc., that relate to the Valley 
counties of Virginia. 

Bowman, Peter. — Bi}i Zcug}us.z von dcr Taufc. Printed by 
Laurence Wartmann, Harrisonburg, Va., 1817. — Bowman 
was an elder in the Dunker Church, and lived in Rocking- 
ham County. The writer has never seen a copy of his book, 
and knows of only one, which is in the possession of Gen. 
J. E. Roller, Harrisonburg. 

Braun, Johannes. — Circular-Schrciben an die Deutschcn Bin- 
zvohncr von Rockingliani und Augusta, imd den benacJibar- 
tcn Counties. Brster Baud. Pp., x — 409, 16mo. Harrison- 
burg, Va., 1818: Laurentz Wartmann, Printer. — Brown 
was for many years a leading minister of the German 
Reformed Church, and published various works. The book 
here under review was well bound in sheep, and consists of 
five parts: Pp. 1-115, Reasons for supporting Bible So- 
cieties; pp. 119-234, F.Uracts from the Ninth Annual Re- 
port of the Committee for the British and Foreign Bible 
Society; pp. 235-276, Short Extracts from the Works of 
Dr. Claudius Buchanan : pp. 278-373, An Essay on Slavery 
and Serfdom; pp. 377-409, A Thanksgiving Sermon on the 
Conclusion of Peace, delivered at Salem Church, Augusta 
County, April 13, 1815; with extracts from other sermons. 
(2) Bine kurzc Untcnveisnng Christlichen Religion, nach 
dent Heidelhergischen Catechisnius, in den Deutschen und 
Bnglisehen-Spruchcn. bey Johannes Braun, Diener des 
Bvangelii. Pp. 72, 16mo. Harrisonburg, Va., 1830: Lavv; 
rence Wartmann, Printer. — On each left-hand page is the 
German text; on each right-hand page is the correspond- 
in? English. 



240 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Brock, Dr. R. A.— Virginia and Virginians: 1606-1888. 
Eminent Virginians, By R. A, Brock; History of Vir- 
ginia, From Settlement of Jamestown to Close of the Civil 
War, By Virgil A. Lewis. Two vols., 8vo, illust. Vol. I — 
pp. 1-408 — Early Virginians and History of Virginia; 
Vol. n — pp. 409-870 — more Virginia history and more 
Virginians, chiefly men of more recent times. Richmond 
and Toledo, 1888: H. H. Hardesty, Publisher.— Two big, 
handsome volumes, with much of interest and value in 
them ; but unserviceable to a great extent for lack of 
indices. 

Bruce, Thomas, — Southwest Virginia and Shenandoah Val- 
ley. Pp. X— 259, 8vo. Richmond, 1891 : J. L. Hill Pub- 
lishing Co. — Appears to have been written chiefly for ad- 
vertising purposes, but contains much of interest : among 
other things, sketches of the Valley towns of Luray, Shen- 
andoah, Grottoes, Berryville, Front Royal, Waynesboro, 
Basic City. 

Brumbaugh, M. G. — A History of the German Baptist 
Brethren in Europe and America. Pp. 559, 8vo, illust. 
Mt. Morris (now Elgin), 111., 1899: Brethren Publishing 
House. — Gives much of interest concerning one of the re- 
ligious bodies now^ largely represented in the Valley of 
Virginia. 

Burkholter, Peter. — Eiiie Vcrhandluug, Von dcr luisscrlichcn 
Wasser-Taiife, iind Hrklarung cinigcr Irrthiimer. Pp. 60, 
16mo. Harrisonburg, Va., 1816: Laurentz Wartmann, 
Printer. — Burkholder was a noted leader of the Rocking- 
ham Mennonites. Only two copies of this pamphlet are 
known: one of these is in the possession of the writer. 

Cartmell, T. K. — Historical, Biographical, and Genealogical 
Studies of the First Settlers and Their Descendants of the 
Lower Shenandoah Valley. In preparation. — Air. Cartmell 
was for 25 years clerk of the county court of Frederick 



APPElNDIX. 241 

County, and lias many advantages in the preparation of 
such a work. 

Casey, Joseph J. — Personal Names in Hening's Statutes at 
Large of Virginia, and Shepherd's Continuation. Pp. 141, 
4to. New York, 1896: Pubhshed by the Author, 26, E. 
129th St. — This is an index of Hening and Shepherd by 
proper names : a very helpful work. 

Chandler, J. A. C. — Makers of Virginia History. Pp. 356, 
12mo, illust. New York, 1904: Silver, Burdett and Com- 
pany. — Dr. W. H. Ruffner, a Valley German and an emi- 
nent Virginian, is presented among the other worthies ; but 
the sketch of him is rather indifferent. 

Cooke, John' Esten. — Virginia: Chapter XXIII, pp. 322- 
330: "The Virginians of the Valley." — This 'part is mainly 
from Kercheval, on the Germans. Mr. Cooke is in a com- 
mon error as to the dates of first settlements, priority of the 
different classes, etc.; but he gives a true idea of the char- 
acter of the people. 

Crozier, W. A.— Virginia Colonial Militia: 1651-1776. 
Pp. 144. Svo. New York, 1905: Published by the 
Genealogical Association. — A very valuable work, contain- 
ing hundreds of names, chiefly from original sources. 
Some of the lists are taken from Hening. 

(2) Virginia County Records: Spottslyvania County, 
1721-1800. Being Transcriptions, from the Original Files at 
the County Court House, of Wills, Deeds, Administrators' 
and Guardians' Bonds, Marriage Licenses, and Lists of Rev- 
olutionary Pensioners. Pp. 576, Svo. New^ York, 1905: 
Published for the Genealogical Association by Fox, Duffield 
& Co. — A valuable source book, containing records (in 
abstract) of some German families east of the Blue Ritlge, 
but of none in the Valley. 

Diffendcrffer, F. R.— The German Immigration into Penn- 
sylvania through the Port of Philadelphia, and "The Re- 

—16 

/ 

/ 

/ 



r 



242 the: VALI^EY GERMANS. 

demptioners." Pp. 1-328, Publications of the Pennsylva- 
nia-German Society, Vol. X, 1900. 

Engle, J. M. — A History of the Engle Family in the Shenan- 
doah Valley and Family Connections. Gen. Wm. Darke, 
Moores, Dukes and Molers, and Incidents of the Civil War. 
Pp. 36, 16mo, illust. Washington, 1906: Published by the 
Author, Sixth Auditor's Office, Treasury Department. — 
Contains many genealogical and other facts of interest, and 
is generally reliable; but lacks literary form. 

English, W. H. — Conquest of the Country Northwest of the 
River Ohio, 1778-1783, and Life of Gen. George Rogers 
Clark. With numerous sketches of men who served under 
Clark and full lists of those allotted lands in Clark's grant 
for service in the campaigns against the British Posts, 
showing exact land allotted to each. Two vols., pp. 1186, 
Svo, illust. Indianapolis and Kansas City, 1897: The 
Bowen-Merrill Co. — A voluminous and valuable work, con- 
taining much from original matter. It pays high tributes 
to Maj. Joseph Bowman and other Valley Germans. 

Falkenstein, G. N. — History of the German Baptist Brethren 
Church. Pp. 154, Svo, illust. Lancaster, Pa., 1901 : The 
New Era Printing Co. — Reprinted from the Pennsylvania- 
German Society Annual of 1900. 

Fast, R. E., and Hu Maxwell. — The History and Government 
of West Virginia. Pp. x — 514, 12mo, illust. Morgan- 
town, 1901 : The Acme Publishing Co. — Contains some 
interesting facts concerning the German element in the 
Valley and adjacent sections, and has a valuable bibliog- 
raphy. 

Flory, J. S. — The First Period of Literary Activity among 
the Dunkers. In preparation. — Professor Flory has had 
excellent opportunities for obtaining valuable information 
on his subject. His address is Bridgewater, Va. 

Foote, W. H. — Sketches of Virginia, Plistorical and Bio- 



\ 

\ 



APPENDIX. 243 

graphical. Second Series, 2d ed., revised. Pp. xiv — 596, 
8vo. Philadelphia, 1856: J. B. Lippincott & Co.— Mr. 
Foote was pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Romney, 
Va. Plis book contains much of interest and value concern- 
ing the early history of the Valley, with special reference 
to the Scotch-Irish, but also with incidental reference to 
the Germans and others. 

Fretz, A. J. — A Brief History of Bishop Henry Funck and 
other Funk Pioneers, and a complete Genealogical Family 
Register with biographies of their descendants from the 
earliest available Records to the Present Time. With Por- 
traits and other Illustrations. With an Introduction by 
John F. Funk, of Elkhart, Ind. Pp. 874, 12mo. Elkhart, 
Ind., 1889: Mennonite Publishing Co. — A mine of infor- 
mation, not only concerning the well known and innumer- 
able Funk family, but also concerning related families : the 
Stovers, Monks, Rosenbergers, Showalters, Hecklers, Mey- 
ers, Austins, Fretzs, Krouts, Shenks, Ashenfelters, Rue- 
bushs, Hunsickers, Wismers, ct a!. 

Funk, Benj. — Life and Labors of Elder John Kline, the Mar- 
tyr Missionary. Collated from his Diary. Pp. 480, 8vo, 
illust. Elgin, 111., 1900: Brethren Publishing House. — John 
Kline was a Dunker preacher of Rockingham, whose labors 
covered the period from 1835 till his martyrdom in 1864. 
Plis travels and ministrations extended over the Shenandoah 
Valley, and westward ac jss die Ohio River. The book 
contains innumerable entries of German names in the Val- 
ley and elsewhere. 

Funkhouser, Jacob. — A Historical Sketch of the Funkhoiiser 
Family. Pp. 100, 8vo, illust. Harrisonburg, Va., 1902: 
The Rockingham Register Press. 

Garr, J. W. and J. C. — Genealogy of the Descendants of John 
Gar> or more particularly of his son, Andreas Gaar, who 
emigrated from Bavaria to America in 1732. With Por- 
traits, Coat-of-arms, Biographies, Wills, History, Etc. Pp. 



24:4 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

XV — 608, 8vo. Cincinnati, 1894: Published by the Author, 
John C. Garr (now of Jacksonville, Fla.)- — This book is 
excellently arranged, for the tracing of genealogy; and 
contains much about the Germans of Madison County, Va. 

Gilbert, D. M. — The Lutheran Church in Virginia, 1776- 
1876. A Historical Discourse Delivered before the Lu- 
theran Synod of Virginia, at its Forty-Seventh Convention 
Held in Strasburg, Shenandoah County, Virginia, August 
3-8, 1876. Pp. 58, 8vo. New Market, Va., 1876: Henkel 
& Co., Printers. — Contains much historical and biograph- 
ical matter. 

(2) The Praises of the Lord in the Story of Our Fathers. 
A Historical Discourse, delivered in Grace Evangelical 
Lutheran Church, Winchester, Virginia, on Sunday Morn- 
ing, May 13, 1877. Pp. 33, 8vo. New Market, Va., 1877 : 
Henkel & Co., Printr»-s. — Chiefly a history of the Lutheran 
congregation at Winchester, but contains also numerous 
more general facts. 

(3) A Chapter of Colonial, Luthero-Episcopal Church 
History. An address delivered at the laying of the Corner- 
stone of the Emanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Wood- 
stock, Virginia, Friday, August 8, 1884. Pp. c. 30, 8vo., re- 
printed from the Liithcran Quarterly of October, 1884. — 
An interesting account of the early Lutherans in the Valley 
of Virginia, and of Gen. Muhlen])erg's career: an exhaust- 
ive discussion of his double church relation, with the Lu- 
therans on the one hand, with the Episcopalians on the 
other. 

(4) Early History of the Lutheran Church in Georgia. 
Pp. 20, 8vo., reprinted from the Lutheran Quarterly of 
April, 1897. — The facts herein presented are connected with 
the Virginia Lutherans only in a general way. 

Grumbine, L. L. — The Pennsylvania-German Dialect. Pp. 
37-99, Publications of the Pennsylvania-German Society, 



APPENDIX. 



245 



Vol. XII, 1903.— Of great interest in studying the language 
used several generations ago by the Valley of Virginia 
Germans, and still used in familiar conversation by a few 
families and in a few localities. 
Hale, John P. — Trans-Allegheny Pioneers: Plistorical 
Sketches of the First White Settlements West of the Alle- 
ghenies, 1748 and After. Pp. 330, 12mo, illust. Charles- 
ton, W. Va., 1886: Published by the Author; later, Cin- 
cinnati: S. C. Cox & Co., 72 W. 4th St.— This book needs 
an index. It does not give much about the Valley Germans, 
but contains some interesting facts about the Ruffners, from 
Page County, who settled in Kanawha, and others origi- 
nally from the Valley. 
Hardesty, H. PL— Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia, 
Special Virginia and County Editions. Giving a History 
■ of the Virginias, Biographical Sketches of Eminent Virgin- 
ians, written by R. A. Brock; Military History by Counties, 
Giving the first Roster ever compiled of the Soldiers of the 
Lost bause, for each County Edition, with record of the 
Military Organizations of the County, and History of its 
Llonorable Part in the Great Drama of the late War; Also, 
a Department devoted to Family and Personal Sketches. 
New York, Richmond, Chicago, and Toledo, 1884: H. H. 
Hardesty & Co.— Only the Rockingham County edition has 
been examined. In this, pages 305-430, folio, are of special 
interest: the bulk of the book is of a general character. 
The muster rolls of military companies are of particular 
value. 
Hark, J. Max.—Chronicon Bphratense. A history of the 
Community of Seventh-Day Baptists at Ephrata, Lancaster 
County, Pa. Translation by Hark. Lancaster, Pa., 1889.— 
The Ephrata Brethren were an early offshoot of the Dunk- 
ers, and are often confused with them. The former had 
several communities in Virginia during the third quarter of 
the 18th centurv. 



240 The valley Germans. 

Hartzler, J. S., and Daniel Kauffman. — Mennonite Church 
History. Pp. 422, 8vo, ilkist. Scottdale, Pa., 1905 : Men- 
nonite Book and Tract vSociety. — Considerable space is de- 
voted to the Mennonites in Europe, as well as to each of the 
branches of the church in America. The congregations in 
the Valley of Virginia and adjacent districts receive ex- 
tended notice in an excellent chapter by Bishop L. J. Heat- 
wole. 

Hays, Daniel. — A history of the Non-Resistant Religious 
Bodies of the Shenandoah Valley. In preparation. In this 
work Elder Hays will tell of the Quakers, Mennonites, and 
Dunkers, and of their experience during the Civil War. 

Heatwole, D. A. — A history of the Heatwole Family, from 
the Landing of the Ancestor of the Race, up to the Present 
Time. .Pp. 24, 16mo. Dale Enterprise, Va., 1882: Office 
of the Watchful Pilgrim. 

Hiitwohl, Jiicob, Jr. — Chronik dcr Faniilic IliilwoJil. Pp. 71, 
8vo, illust. Boppard on the Rhine, 1901 : Otto Maisel, 
Printer. — A more extended account of the Pleatwoles, writ- 
ten by a German member of the family. Especially inter- 
esting on the causes and circumstances of German 
emigration. 

Heckman, G. C. — German Colonization in America. Pp. 13- 
. 29, Pennsylvania-German Society Publications, Vol. V, 
1895. 

Hening, W. W. — The Statutes at Large; Being a Collection 
of all the Laws of Virginia, from the First Session of the 
Legislature, in the year 1619. In thirteen 8vo. volumes of 
over 600 pages each, covering the legislation up to October, 
1792. The books were printed for the editor at Richmond 
(Vol. XIII at Philadelphia), and were issued during the 
period from 1819 to 1823. In 1836, Samuel Snepherd pub- 
lished at Richmond three volumes more, covering the leg- 
islation from 1792 to 1806. — This series of volumes by 



APPENDIX. 247 

Ilening', with Shcplicrd's Continuation, are a real treasure 
liouse to the liistory student, and i)roljably form the most 
valuable source-book extant on the history of the State to 
the end of the 18th century. The first volume in which any 
references to the Valley Germans a|)[)ear is No. 4, covering 
the period from 1711 to 1736. These references are indi- 
rect for the most part. Vol. V, 1738-1748, contains sev- 
eral Acts of special interest relative to the dividing of the 
counties of Frederick and Augusta, the killing of wolves 
and paying therefor, the fixing of court days, etc. Vol. VI, 
1748-1755, records various Acts relating to Frederick and 
Augusta counties, and to the oncoming war with the French 
and Indians. Vol. VII. 1756-1763, is the most interesting 
and valuable of all for Valley German history. The Mili- 
tary Schedule of 1758 and the Acts for establishing towns 
are of special interest. 

Henkel, A. L. — Biographical Sketch of Rev. Paul Henkel. 
Born December 15, 1754; Died November 27, 1825. Pp. 
4, 8vo. New Market, Va., 1890: Plenkel & Co., Publishers. 

Henkel, Socrates. — History of the Evangelical Lutheran. Ten- 
nessee Synod, Embracing An Account oi the Causes which 
gave rise to its Organization; Its Organization and Name; 
Its Position and Confessional Basis; Object of its Organi- 
zation ; Work, Development, and various Sessions; Its 
Policy; And its Future. Pp. 275, 8vo. New Market, Va., 
1890: Henkel & Co., Publishers. 

Henkel, Socrates, ef al. — The Christian Book of Concord, or 
Syml)olical Books, of the Evangelical Lutheran Church; 
Comprising the Three Chief Symbols, the Unaltered Augs- 
burg Confession, the Apology, the Smalcald Articles, Lu- 
ther's Smaller and Larger Catechisms, the Formula of Con- 
cord, and an Appendix. To which is Prefixed An Plistor- 
ical Introduction. Second Edition, Revised. Translated 
from the German. Pp. viii— 780, 8vo. New Market, 1854: 
Solomon D. Henkel and Brs. — On this moumental work 



2-iS THE VAI^LEY GERMAN^. 

the Henkels and their helpers labored seven years. The 
successful accomplishment of the task was a notable achieve- 
ment in the religious and literary progress of the Valley of 
Virginia Lutherans. 

Hoffman, W. J. — Popular Superstitions. Pp. 70-81, Publica- 
tions of the Pennsylvania-German Society, Vol. V, 1895. 

Holsinger, H. R. — History of the Tunkers and The Brethren 
Church : Embracing the Church of the Brethren, the Tunk- 
ers, the Seventh-Day German Baptist Church, the Old Ger- 
man Baptists, and the Brethren Church; Including their 
Origin, Doctrine, Biography and Literature. Pp. 826, 8vo. 
Lathrop, California, 1901 : Printed for the Author by the 
Pacific Press Publishing Co., Oakland. — This book contains 
an account of certain men and movements among the \'alley 
of Virginia Dunkers. 

Hotchkiss, Ted, and J. A. Waddell. — Historical Atlas of Au- 
gusta County, Virginia. Alaps from Original Surveys, by 
Jed Hotchkiss; Its Annals, by J. A. Waddell. Pp. 94. 
large folio. Chicago, 1885 : Waterman. Watkins & Co. — 
An excellent work, specially valuable for its maps. The 
historical and biographical notes are also of interest perti- 
nent to our subject. 

Howe, Henry. — Historical Collections of Virginia ; Relating 
to its History and Antiquities, together with Geographical 
and Statistical Descriptions. Pp. 544, 8vo, illust. Charles- 
ton, S. C, 1846; Babcock & Co., Publishers.— One of the 
most helpful histories of Virginia ever published. It con- 
tains a separate sketch of each county, and other valuable 
features. There are, however, a few grave errors ; one, for 
instance, in the account of the Tunkers of Botetourt County; 
pp. 203, 204, wherein the common mistake is made of de- 
scribing the Tunkers (Dunkers) in terms of the mystical 
and ascetic Ephrata Brethren. The book is becoming rare. 

Hurst. T. F. — Short History of the Church in the United 



APPENDIX. 249 

States, A. D. 1492-1890. Pp. 132, 16mo. New York; 
1890: Chautauqua Press, 150 Fifth Avenue. — Contains 
valuable information concerning the characteristics and 
movements of some of the religious bodies largely repre- 
sented in the Valley of Virginia. 

Jefferson, Thomas. — Notes on the State of Virginia. Pp. 
344, 16mo. Philadelphia. 1825: H. C. Carey & T. Lea, 
Publishers. — Written in 1781 and 1782. A number of facts 
are presented relating to the geography, population, cus- 
toms, religion, distribution of militia in the several counties, 
etc., but not much relating particularly to the Valley or its 
inhabitants. The book is listed here chiefly because of the 
trustworthiness of the author and the remoteness of the 
period it represents. Many of the various histories of 
Virginia contain, each a little, in reference to the Valley 
and its people ; l)Ut it has not been deemed necessary to in- 
clude more than two or three in this bibliography. 

Jensen, J. C. — American Lutheran Biographies. Milwaukee, 
1890. — Contains sketches of some prominent Valley of Vir- 
ginia Germans. 

Keagy, Franklin. — A History of the Kagy Relationship in 
America from 1715 to 1900. Pp. 675, 8vo, illust. Harris- 
burg, Pa., 1899: Harrisburg Publishmg Co. — A book 
finely printed, bound, and illustrated. The author, a citizen 
of Chambersburg, Pa., spent over twenty years in prepar- 
ing the work. 

Kemper, W. M., and PL L. Wright. — Genealogy of the 
Kemper Family in the United States. Descendants of John 
Kemper of Virginia. With a Short Historical Sketch of 
His Family and of the German Reformed Colony at Ger- 
manna and Germantown. Va. Pp. 248 — xix. 8vo. Chicago, 
1899: Geo. K. Hazlitt & Co., Printers, 373 Dearborn St. 

Kennedy. J. P. — Journals of the House of Burgesses of Vir- 
ginia. Two vols., folio. Vol. I, 1770-1772, pp. xxxv — 333 ; 



250 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Vol. II, 1773-1776, pp. xxiii— 301. Richmond, 1905.— 
Contain frequent references to, and occasional petitions 
from, the Valley counties and citizens. A number of Ger- 
man names appear. 

Kercheval, Samuel. — A History of the Valley of Virginia. 
Revised and Extended by the Author. Third Edition, pp. 
403, 8vo. Woodstock, Va., 1902: W. X. Grabill, Printer. 
— A work- published first in 1833, and still holding rank as 
the best and fullest authority on the early conditions in the 
Valley. 

Komer, Gustav. — Das Deutsche Element in den Vercinigten 
Staaten von Nordauicrika, i8i8-i8^8. Pp. 461, Svo. Cin- 
cinnati, 1880: A. E. Wilde & Co.— This work treats of the 
Germans in the several sections and States of the Union ; 
pp. 393-410 being devoted to ^laryland and Virginia. Pro- 
fessors M. Scheie de Vere and George Blattermann and 
Dr. Carl Minnigerode are put forth as distingiu'shed Ger- 
mans in the Old Dominion. The book has appended a list 
of 55 "Sources." 

Kuhns, Oscar. — The German and Swiss Settlements of Co- 
lonial Pennsylvania. Pp. 268, 12 mo. New York, 1901: 
Henry Holt & Co. — A good outline of the historical back 
ground is given; Pennsylvania-German family names, man- 
ners and customs, religious life, etc.. are discussed; and an 
extended bibliography is appended. 

Lathrop, J. ]\I., A. W. Dayton, ct al. — An Atlas of Frederick 
County, Virginia. From actual Surveys. Pp. 42 — , folio. 
Philadelphia, 1885 : D. J. Lake & Co. 

Lathrop, J. M., B. N. Griffing, ct al. — An Atlas of Rocking- 
ham County, Virginia. From actual Surveys. Pp. 58, 
folio. Philadelphia, 1885: D. J. Lake & Co. 

(2) An Atlas of Shenandoah and Page Counties, Vir- 
ginia. From actual Surveys. Pp. 60, folio. Philadelphia, 
1885: D. J. Lake & Co. — These county adase'- are finely 



APPENDIX. 251 

executed and of great value. Tlie maps not only show the 
several counties as wholes, but each district separately. 
Every road and residence is located, and the name of each 
resident is given. 

Learned, M. D. — The P*ennsylvania-German Dialect, Part I. 
Baltimore, 1889. 

Lederer, John. — The Discoveries of John Lederer, In three 
several marches from Virginia, to the West of Carolina, 
and otiier parts of the Continent : Tjegun in March 1669, 
and ended in Sei)tember 1670. Together with a General 
Map of the Whole Territory which lie traversed. Collected 
and translated out of the Latine from his Discourse and 
M^riting-s, By Sir William 'J'albot, Baronet. Pp. 30, Bvo. 
Rochester, N. Y., 1902: 300 copies reprinted for G. P. 
Humphrey. — The book was first printed in 1672, in Lon- 
don. Lederer was a German, and evidently a scholarly 
man. Plis map is remarkably accurate, considering- the 
time and circumstances of its execution; and his accompa- 
nying essay is, except in one or two minor particulars, ex- 
act and relial)le. Lederer was, so far as is known, the first 
white man to cross the Blue Ridge and enter the Valley. 

Lewis, Virgil A. — West Virginia. Its History, Natural Re- 
sources. Industrial Entei^prises, and Institutons. Pp. 390, 
8vo, illust. Charleston, 1903 : The Tribune Printing Co. 
— Contains a few statements of interest concerning the 
Shenandoah Valley and its people. 

(2) History and Government of West Virginia. Pp. 408, 
12mo, illust. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 1904: 
American Book Co. — Gives a number of interesting facts 
about the early Germans in the Valley and adjacent sections. 

Loy, M., cf al. — The Distinctive Doctrines and Usages of the 
General Bodies of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the 
United States. Pp. 193, 12mo. Philadelphia, 1893: Lu- 
theran Publication Society. — A work that is helpful in de- 



252 THE VAI.I.EY GERMANS. 

termining the religious relationship of the Valley of Vir- 
ginia Lutherans. 

Mcllhany, H. M., Jr. — Some Virginia Families. Being Gene- 
alogies of the Kinney, Stribling, Trout, Mcllhany, Milton, 
Rogers, Tate, Snickers, Taylor, McCormiclc and other 
Families of Virginia. Pp. 274, 8vo, illust. Staunton, Va., 
1903: Stoneburner & Prufer, Printers. 

Mann, W. J. — Life and Times of Henry Melchior Muhlen- 
berg. Pp. xvi— 547, 8vo. Philadelphia, 1887: G. W. 
Frederick, 117 N. Sixth St. 

Meade, William. — Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of 
Virginia. In two vols., pp. 986, 8vo. Philadelphia, 1872: 
J. B. Lippincott & Co. — Volume II contains much of inter- 
est and value concerning the people of the Valley counties — 
the Germans and Scotch-Irish, as well as the few English. 

Moore, Thomas. — The German Element in the Shenandoah 
Valley. In preparation as a Bachelor's thesis at Roanoke 
College, Va. 

Morris, J. G. — Fifty Years in the Lutheran Ministry. Pp. 
viii — 630, 8vo. Baltimore, 1878: Printed for the Author 
by James Young, 112 W. Bait. St. — Gives much of interest 
concerning movements and men connected with the Valley 
of Virginia. 

Norris, J. E. — Plistory of the Lower Shenandoah Valley 
Counties of Frederick, Berkeley, Jefferson, and Clarke : 
Their Early Settlement and Progress to the Present Time; 
Geological Features; A Description of their Historic and 
Interesting Localities; Cities, Towns, and Villages; Por- 
traits of some of the Prominent Men, and Biographies of 
Many of the Representative Citizens. Pp. 812, 8vo, illust. 
Chicago, 1890: A. Warner & Co. — A huge volume con- 
taining much of interest and value, but rather poorly 'ar- 
ranged. 

Palmer, Dr. W. P., Sherwin McRae, H. W. Flournoy, ct al. — 



ArPENDix. 253 

Calendar of Virginia State Papers and Other Manuscripts, 
Preserved in the Capitol at Richmond. Eleven 4to vols., 
of 600 or more pages each, containing reprints of papers 
dated from 1652 to 1869. The books were printed at 
I^ichmond, and were issued from 1875 to 1893. — In interest 
and value to the student of Virginia history, these volumes 
deserve to be ranked with Hening's Stafntcs. Vol. I, 1652- 
1781, is of special interest in reference to the first German 
settlers of the Valley. 

Paul, John. — Address delivered at the Laying of the Corner 
Stone of the Rockingham County Court House, October 15, 
1896. Pp. 19, 8vo. Harrisonburg, 1896: Spirit of the 
Valley Press. — A masterly presentation of the history of 
Rockingham County from the standpoint of the legal pro- 
fession. 

Peyton, J. L. — History of Augusta County, Virginia. Pp. 
vii— 395, 8vo. Staunton, 1882: Samuel M. Yost & Son; 
Frank Prufer & Son, Binders. — A very readable volume, 
containing much valuable information, chiefly concerning 
the Scotch-Irish ; but there is much also, incidentally, con- 
cerning the Germans and others. From it one gets a rather 
strong impression of the extent to which the Germans have 
entered into the important enterprises of Staunton in the 
more recent times — say, since 1850. 

Pott, August Friedrich. — Die Personennamen, insbesondere 
die FamiUcnnamcn und Hire Bntstchungsarten ; aiich unter 
Beri\cksichtigung dcr Ortsnamcn. Pp. 721, 8vo. Leipzig, 
1853: F. A. Brockhaus. — A voluminous and apparently 
serviceable work on the origin of family names. The 
author (1802-1887) was a distinguished philologist, . and 
the founder of modern scientific etymology. 

Richards, H. M. M.— Descendants of Henry Melchior Muh- 
lenberg. Pp. 1-89, Publications of the Pennsylvania-Ger- 
man Society, Vol. X, 1900. 



.-4. 



254 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Richards, R. R. — The German Migration into the Valley of 
Virginia. Prepared as a Bachelor's thesis at Roanoke Col- 
lege, Va., in 1904. 

Richardson, \V. H. — The Picturesque Quality of the Pennsyl- 
vania German. Pp. 1-27, Publications of the Pennsylvania- 
German Society, Vol. XIII, 1904. 

Roller, J. E. — Address at Lebanon, Pa. Pp. 14-23, Publica- 
tions of the Pa.-Ger. Society, Vol. XIV, 1905.— Of interest 
in Valley of Virginia German history. 

Rosengarten, J. G. — The German Soldier in the Wars of the 
United States. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. 
Pp. 298, 16mo. Philadelphia, 1890: J. B. Lippincott Co.— 
An interesting work; but the author appears to have known 
but little of the German soldiers of Virginia, particularly of 
the Valley. 

(2) The German Allied Troops in the North American 
War of Independence, 1776-1783. Translated and 
Abridged from the German of Max von Eelking. Pp. 360, 
Svo, illust. Albany, N. Y., 1893: Joel Munsell's Sons.— 
Gives a good deal concerning the Hessians and others at 
Charlottesville, Va., Winchester, and elsewhere. 

(3) German Influence in America. Pp. 4, 8vo. Re- 
printed from Lippincott's Magazine of April, 1902. 

(4) Popp's Journal, 1777-1783. Pp. 29, Svo. Philadel- 
phia, 1902. — A translation of the journal, with finely exe- 
cuted maps, of a Hessian soldier. It contains interesting 
comments on Winchester, Va., the surrounding country, 
and other Valley of Virginia subjects. 

(5) American History from German Archives, with 
Reference to the German Soldiers in the Revolution and 
Franklin's Visit to Germany. Pp. 1-93, Publications of the 
Pa.-Ger. Society, Vol XIII, 1904. 

Ruffner, Henry.— Address to the People of West Virginia; 
Shewing that Slavery is Injurious to the Public Welfare, 



APPENDIX. 255 

and that it may be gradually abolished, without Detriment 
to the Rights and Interests of Slaveholders. Pp. 40, 8vo. 
Lexington, Va., 1847 : Printed by R. C. Noel. — A masterly 
treatise, showing not only what the title indicates, but also 
giving much of interest regarding the conditions then pre- 
vailing in the Valley of Virginia and elsewhere. The 
pamphlet is at present very rare, only one copy being known 
to be extant. 

Rupp, I. D. — History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
Lancaster, 1844. 

(2) A Collection of Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names 
of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other Immigrants in 
Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776. With a Statement of the 
names of Ships, whence tliey sailed, and the date of their 
arrival at Philadelphia, Chronologically Arranged, together 
w'ith the Necessary Plistorical and Other Notes. Second 
Revised and Enlarged Edition, with German Translation. 
Pp. X— 495, 12mo. Philadelphia, 1898: Leary, Stuart & 
Co. — A compilation from the records of the port of Phila- 
delphia, of great value to the historian and genealogist. 
Tiie names of the ancestors of practically all the German 
families found in the Valley of Virginia to-day, may be 
found in this book. An alphabetical index would add very 
much to its serviceableness. 

Sachse, J. F. — The German Pietists of Provincial Pennsyl- 
vania, 1694-1708. Pp. xviii— 504, 8vo, illust. Philadel- 
phia, 1895: Printed for the Author. — Gives graphic por- 
trayals of many forces and figures moving in Pennsylvania 
about the time of the beginning of the migration to the Val- 
ley of Virginia. 

(2) The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, 1708-1800. 

A Critical and Legendary History of the Ephrata Cloister 

and the Dunkers. Two vols., 8vo, pp. xxxvi — 1041, illust. 

Philadelphia, 1899, 1900: Printed for the Author.— Two 

elegant and interesting volumes. The second one contains 



256 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

an account of the Ephrata community at Strasburg, Va., 
and others in the State. 

(3) Ciirieusc NachricJit, from Pennsylvania, By Daniel 
Falckner. Translated from Falckner's original writing. 
Pp. 39-256, Publications of the Pa.-Ger. Society, Vol. XIV, 
1905. — Falckner's work, published in Germany in 1702, 
did much to stimulate German immigration to Pennsylvania 
in the early years of the 18th century. 

Saffell, W. T. R.— Records of the Revolutionary War: Con- 
taining the Military and Financial Correspondence of Dis- 
tinguished Officers; Names of the Officers and Privates of 
Regiments, Companies, and Corps, with the Dates of their 
Commissions and Enlistments; Etc. Third Edition. Pp. 
555, 8vo. Baltimore, 1894: Charles C. Saffell, 224 W. 
Fayette St. — Gives roster of Morgan's regiments from Vir- 
ginia; but the list of Muhlenberg's German Regiment does 
not appear. 

Schantz, F. J. F. — The Domestic Life and Characteristics of 
the Pennsylvania-German Pioneer. Pp. 1-97, Publications 
of the Pa.-Ger. Society, Vol. X, 1900. 

Schuricht, Herrmann. — PTistory of the German Element in 
Virginia. Vol. I, pp. 168, 8vo, 1898; Vol. IT, pp. 224, 8vo, 
1900. Baltimore: Theo. Kroh & Sons, Printers. — vSchuricht 
goes too far in his enthusiasm for his race; he frequently 
strains the point on names that he supposes to be German ; 
but in spite of all his faults he presents much that is indispu- 
table and valuable. His is perhaps the most extensive work 
thus far published on the Germans of Virginia. It is the 
only one, devoted exclusively to the subject, that the pres- 
ent writer has seen. 

Seidensticker, Oswald. — Die Erste Deutsche Bimvanderung 
in Amerika nnd die GriUulung von Gcnnantoivn ini Jahre 
1683. Pp. 94, 8vo. Philadelphia, 1883. — An interesting col- 
lection of sketches of German-American people and life. 



ArpitNDix. 257 ■ 

(2) Gcschichishlattcv : Bildcr und Mitthcilungen aus 
dem Lchcn dcr Dciitschcn in Amcrika. Edited by Carl 
Schiirz. Second Volume. Pp. viii — 276, 12mo. New York, 
1885: E. Steiger & Co. — The parts of this book that bear 
more directly upon Virginia Germans, relate to Gen. Peter 
Muhlenberg and his contemporaries; to Pennsylvania-Ger- 
man industrial habits; etc. A valuable bibliography is ap- 
pended. 

(3) The First Century of German Printing in America, 
1728-1830. Preceded by a Notice of the Literary Work of 
F. D. Pastorius. Pp. x— 254, 8vo. Philadelphia, 1893: 
Schaefer & Koradi. — A veritable gold mine to the anti- 
quarian, although, as the author himself realized, the list 
of publications is far from complete. The most important 
of the early printing houses in the Shenandoah Valley are 
noticed. 

Spaeth, Adolph.— Charles Portcrheld Krauth. In two vol- 
umes. New York, 1898: The Christian Literature Co. 

Spangler, E. W.— The Annals of the Families of Casper, 
Henry, Baltzer and George Spengler, who settled in York 
County [Pa.] respectively in 1729, 1732. 1732 and 1751: 
With Biographical and Historical Sketches, and Memora- 
bilia of Contemporaneous Local Events. Pp. 605, 8vo, 
illust. York, Pa., 1896.— Many of the Spenglers came to 
Virginia, where they have won distinction in both civil and 
military life. -^ 

Stahr, J. S.— The Pennsylvania-Germans at Home. Pp. SZ- 
70, Publications of the Pa.-Ger. Society, Vol. V, 1895. 

Stanard, W. G. and Mary N.— The Colonial Virginia Reg- 
ister. ' A List of Governors, Councillors and Other Higher 
Officials, and also of Members of the House of Burgesses, 
and the Revolutionarv Conventions of the Colony of Vu- 
gi.iia. Pp. 249, 8vo. Albany, N. Y., 1902 : Joel Munsell's 

— 17 



258 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

Sons. — Contains names of a half dozen or more Valley Ger- 
mans. 

Stapleton, A. — Memorials of the Hngnenots in America, with 
special Reference to their Emigration to Pennsylvania. Pp. 
ix — 164, 8vo, illust. Carlisle, Pa. 1901 : Huguenot Pub- 
lishing Co. — Many German families of Pennsylvania and 
Virginia are mentioned. 

Thwaites, R. G., and Louise P. Kellogg. — Documentary His- 
tory of Dunmore's War, 1774. Compiled from the Draper 
Manuscripts in the Library of the Wisconsin Historical 
Society, and published at the charge of the Wisconsin So- 
ciety of the 3ons of the American Revolution. Pp. xxviii 
— 472, 12mo, illust. Madison, Wis., 1905: Wisconsin His- 
torical Society. — Contains muster rolls, etc., from Augusta 
and odier Valley counties. 

Toner, Dr. J. M. — Index to Names of Persons and Churches 
'in Bishop Meade's Old Churches, Ministers and Families 
of Virginia. Revised by Hugh A. Morrison, of the Library 
of Congress. Pp. 63, 8vo. Washington, 1898 : The South- 
ern History Association. — A valuable aid to a famous work. 

Viereck, L. — German Instruction in American Schools. Pp. 
531-708, Vol. I, Report of U. S. Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, 1900-1901. — A most valuable and interesting work. 
It presents the status of the study of German in American 
schools, colleges, and universities; many of the leaders in 
promoting the subject; together with the historical back- 
ground of German-American relations, and an extensive 
bibliography. 

Waddell, J. A. — Scotch-Irish of the Valley of Virginia. Pp. 
79-99, Proceedings and Addresses of the Seventh Congress 
of the Scotch-Irish Society of America. — This address deals 
mainly, of course, with the Scotch-Irish ; but the author ad- 
mits that the Germans were in Augusta six years earli^r 
lie also makes other references to the Germans. 



ArnCNDix. 259 

(2) Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, From 1726 to 
1871. Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Pp. 545, 4to. 
Staunton, Va., 1902: C. Russell Caldwell, Publisher.— 
Contains much of interest and value, though a few inac- 
curacies have been overlooked. The index needs revision 
and correction. 

Walker, C. D. — Memorial, Virginia Military Institute. Bi- 
ographical Sketches of the Graduates and Eleves of the 
Virginia Military Institute Who fell during the War be- 
tween the States. Pp. 585, 8vo. Philadelphia, 1875: J. 
B. Lippincott & Co. — Contains sketches of a number of 
Valley men, four or five of whom bore German names ; 
also a muster roll of the V. M. I. Cadet Battalion that took 
part in the battle of New Market, May 15, 1864. 

Wayland, J. W., J. S. Flory, J A. Garber, J. H. Cline, W. T. 
Myers, et al. — Bridgewater College: Its Past and Present. 
Pp. 298, 8vo, illust. Elgin, 111., 1905: Printed by the 
Brethren Publishing House. — Tells of the struggle by the 
German Baptist Brethren (Dunkers) of the Valley of Vir- 
ginia for higher education; gives sketches and portraits of 
some of the leaders; and contains a complete catalogue of 
the students of the college from 1880 to 1904. 

Wenger, Jonas, ct al. — History of the Descendants of Chris- 
tian Wenger, Who Emigrated from Europe to Lancaster 
County, Pa., in 1727, and a complete Genealogical Family 
Register; with Biographies of his Descendants from the 
Earliest Available Records to the Present Time. Pp. 259, 
12mo, illust. Elkhart, Ind., 1903: Mennonite Publishing 
Co. — The Wenger family is largely represented in the 
Shenandoah Valley. 

Wenger, J- H. — History of the Descendants of Abraham 
Beery: Born in 1718; Emigrated from Switzerland to 
Pennsylvania in 1736: and a Complete Genealogical 
Family Register. Pp. 328, 12mo. South English, Iowa, 
1905 : Published by the Author.— The Beery family is also 



260 THE VALIvEY GERMANS. 

widely distributed in Rockingham and other Vahey coun- 
ties. 

Withers, A. S. — Chronicles of Border Warfare, or a History 
of the Settlement by the Whites of North-Western Virginia, 
and of the Indian Wars and Massacres in that Section of 
the State, with Reflections, Anecdotes, etc. A New Edition, 
Edited and Annotated by Reuben Gold Thwaites. With a 
Memoir of the Author, and Several Illustrative Notes by 
the late Lyman Copeland Draper. Pp. xx — 447, 8vo. 
Cincinnati, 1895 : The Robert Clarke Co. — Does not con- 
tain much concerning the Shenandoah Valley proper, /. e., 
the lower valley of Virginia. This is one of the most 
famous of the books on border warfare. 

Wood, J. W. — History of the Wood Family. Pp. 24, 12mo. 
Luray, Va. — Contains many references to German families 
of Page County, Va., that intermarried with the Woods. 

Woods, Edgar. — Albemarle County in Virginia. Giving some 
account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by 
man, and of some of the men who made it. Pp. 412, 8vo. 
Charlottesville, Va., 1901 : The Micliie Co., Printers.— 
Gives an account pf the quartering of the German Conven- 
tion troops near Charlottesville during the Revolution, with, 
references to numerous German families of various periods. 
Over half of the book is devoted to notes on Albemarle 
families. The Appendix contains rolls of militia and mili- 
tary companies in the early Indian wars and the Revolu- 
tion ; lists of emigrants to other States ; a necrology from 
1744 to 1890; etc. 

Zigler, D. H. — A History of the Dunkers in the Valley of Vir- 
ginia. In preparation. — The author's address is Broad- 
way, Va. 

Clark. — Colonel George Rogers Clarke's Campaign in the Ill- 
inois in 1778-9 and Major Bowman's Journal. Pp. 119, 
8vo. Cincinnati, 1869: Robert Clarke &: Co.— Major Bow- 



APPENDIX. " 261 

man and his company were from the lower Shenandoah 

Valley. 

Henkel. — In Memoriam. Rev. Socrates Henkel, D. D. Pp. 
29, 8vo. New Market, Va., 1901 : Henkel & Co.— Con- 
tains biographical sketch, press notices, and personal trib- 
utes. Dr. Henkel was one of the foremost leaders of the 
Virginia Lutherans. 

Kagy. — The Kagys : A Biography of the Kagy Relationship. 
Pp. 8, Svo. Salem, 111., 1884: Herald-Advocate Job Office 
Print. — Gives brief accounts of the Kageys of Pennsylvania 
and Virginia, as well as of those of Ohio and Illinois. 

Koiner. — A Historical Sketch of Michael Keinadt and Mar- 
garet Diller, His Wife. The History and Genealogy of 
their numerous posterity in the American States, up to '"he 
year 1893. Pp. 171, Svo, illust. Staunton, Va., 1893: 
Stoneburner & Prufer, Publishers. — An interesting history 
of a prominent family. 

Lutheran Ci.urch. — Minutes of the Tenth Convention of the 
United SyJiod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the 
South, held in the Church of the Holy Communion, Dallas, 
N. C, July 10-15, 1906. Pp. 124, 8vo. 

(2) Minutes of the Eighty-Sixth Annual Convention of 
the Evangelical Lutheran Tennessee Synod, Held in St. 
Thomas Church, S. C, August 8-12, 1906. Pp. 56, Svo. 

(3) Minutes of Seventy-Seventh Convention of the 
Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Virginia, Held in Mt. 
Tabor Church, Va., August 22-26, 1906. Pp. 45, Svo. 
New Market, Va., Henkel & Co., Publishers.— These pub- 
lications contain much information concerning several of the 
important religious bodies largely represented in the Valley 
of Virginia. 

Officers and Soldiers.— A List of Non-Commissioned Officers 
and Soldiers of the Virginia State Line, and Non-Commis- 



362 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

sioned Officers and Seamen and Marines of the State Navy, 
whose Names are on the Army Register, and who have not 
received Bounty Land for Revolutionary Services. Docu- 
ments No. 43 and No. 44. Pp. 19 and 51. Richmond, 
1835: Printed by Samuel Shei)herd, Printer to Common- 
wealth. — A few names of Valley men may be upon the lists ; 
but, owing to the meager information given, it is very diffi- 
cult to identify the individuals named. 

Reformed Church. — Acts and Proceedings of the Classis of 
Virginia of the Potomac Synod of the Reformed Church 
in/ the United States, Sixty-Eighth Annual Session, May 
23-28, 1906. Pp. 41, 8vo. Annville, Pa.: Hiester Print- 
ing and Publishing Co. — The classis herein referred to was 
held at Mt. Crawford, Rockingham County, Va. The re- 
port contains information on the religious, missionary, and 
educational activities of the church. 

Seidensticker. — Dr. Oszvald Seidoistickcr. Professor an dcr 
Univcrsitdt von Pcnnsylvanicn. Bin Lchcnsbihl. P[). 72, 
8vo. Philadelphia, 1894: H. R. Grassman, 50 N. Fifth St. 
— Contains biography, memorial addresses, and a list of 
Seidensticker's works. 

Articles in Magazines and Newspapers. 

Baltimore Sun. — Virginia Heraldry. Sunday editions, July 
31, 1904, to or near the present (March, 1907). The 

. sketches of the Hites, July 16 and 23, 1905, and of the 
Bartons, October 8, 1905, are of special interest in Valley 
German history. 

Gospel Messenger, Elgin, 111. — Autobiographical Sketches, by 
Eld. B. F. Moomaw, of Virginia. October 6, 13, 20, 27, 
November 3, 10, 17, and December 8, 1891. — A good deal 
is told of the war experiences of Virginia Dunkers, by one 
who was in the midst of things. 

Harrisonburg Daily News, Harrisonburg, Va. — September 
22, 1903: Candidates Named by Democrats for November 



APPENDIX. 263 

Elections : Who and What they Are. — Sketches and por- 
traits are given of Sen. George B. Keezell, Dr. H. M. 
Rogers, Mr. C. L. IIe(h-ick. Mr. E. W. Carpenter, Hon. 
George N. Conrad, Col. D. H. Lee Martz, Mr. J. S. Mes- 
serley, Sheriff John A. Switzer: all prominent men of 
Rockingham County, and all of German lineage except one. 

(2) April 6, 11, 22, 24, 1907: Some Ancient Muster 
Rolls. By J. W. Wayland. — Classified lists of the soldiers 
of Augusta and Frederick in the French and Indian War, 
together with names of persons furnishing horses, provi- 
sions, etc., for the campaigns. A number of Germans 
appear. 

Harrisonburg Free Press, Harrisonburg, Va. — February 14, 
1900: The Germans: Their Early Settlement in Rocking- 
ham County and the Valley of Virginia. By Charles E. 
Kemper. — Gives much also regarding the causes of the 
German immigration to America. 

(2) History of Rockingham County. By J. H. Floyd. 
A series of ten articles, beginning May 23, 1900, and end- 
ing July 27, following. The period embraced begins with 
the first settlements near Winchester and continues to the 
present time. A good deal of attention is given to the ros- 
ters and muster rolls of Rockingham soldiers in the several 
wars. 

Journal of ihc Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia; 
Witherspoon Building. — The First German Reformed Col- 
ony in Virginia: 1714-1750. By William J. Hinke. In 
three instalments: Vol. II, No. 1 (June, 1903), pp. 1-17; 
No. 2 (Sept., '03), pp. 98-110; No. 3 (Dec, '03), pp. 140- 
150. — An account of the Germanna settlements. 

McClure's I\faf^acine, New York and London. — December, 
1906; pp. 124-136: Reminiscences of a Long Life. By 
Carl Schurz. — One paper of a series. This one contains 
graphic sketches of the new, crude West of fifty years ago; 



204 



THE VALLEY GERMANS. 



a study of the great German immigration of that period ; an 
account of a visit to London; anecdotes of Kossuth, Jenny 
Lind, and Wagner, 

Mooreiield Bxaminer, Moorefield, W. Va. — South Branch 
Valley Genealogies. By H. E. Wallace, Jr. The series 
continues from January to August 24, 1905; the first two 
articles being two weeks apart, the rest appearing at weekly 
intervals. The families presented are the following : Van 
Meter, du Bois, Hopewell, Inskeep, Cunningham, and 
-Heydt (Hite). 

Old Dominion Home, Dayton, Va. — Vol. I, No. 2 (November, 
1906); pp. 2-4: The Legend of Cook's Creek. By L. J. 
Heatwole. — Contains a good many facts of historical in- 
terest regarding the Cook's Creek section of Rockingham 
County. 

Our Church Paper, New Market, Va. — August 27, 1902 : A 
Fortnight in the South. By H. E. J., in The Lutheran. — A 
sketch containing numerous facts relating to the Lutherans 
in Virginia and North Carolina. In the same issue are also 
the following: St. John's Church, Wytheville, by L. A. 
Fox; and an account of the 82d annual convention of the 
Lutheran Tennessee Synod, at Rader's Church, Rocking- 
ham Co., Va., Aug. 21-25, 1902. 

(2) September 24, 1902: Pioneer Home Mission Work: 
Some Leaves from the Journal of the Rev. Paul Henkel. 
By H..E. J., in The Lutheran. — An account of tours in 1806 
to Ohio and North Carolina. 

Page Courier, Luray, Va. — In the spring or summer of 1885, 
as nearly as has been ascertained, James W. Wood, of 
Compton (now of Luray), Va., published a series of ar- 
ticles on Page County Families : The Woods, Stricklers, 
Keysers, and others. 

Pemtsylvania-Gcniuni, Lebanon, T'a. — Vol. Ill, No. 1 (Jan- 



APPENDIX, 265 

I 

uary, 1902), pp. 3-18: Gen. John Peter G. Muhlenberg. — 
An extended ilkistrated sketch, by the Editor, P. C. Croll. 

(2) Vol. IV, No. 2 (April, 1903), pp. 243-253: Rev. 
Gerhart Henkel and His Descendants. By A. Stapleton. — ' 
Contains an account of the llenkcl Press, New Market, Va. 

(3) Vol. V, No. 2 (April, 1904), pp. 61-72: From Win- 
chester to Plarrisburg. B}^ Dr. I. H. Betz. 

(4) Ditto, pp. 81-89: Researches in the First Century 
of German Printing in America, 1728-1830. By A, Sta- * 
pleton. — In the .ine of a supplement to Seidensticker's 
work. 

(5) Vol. V, No. 4 (October, 1904), p. 183: Early Ger- 
man Printing in America: A Resume. By A, Stapleton,' 

(6) Vol. VI. No. 1 (January, 1905), pp. 230-235: The 
Germans and Our Independence. By F. G. Gotwald, 

(7) Vol. VI, No. 2 (April, 1905), pp. 262, 263: Early 
German Printing in America: Supplement No. 2, By. A. 
Stapleton, 

(8) Ditto, pp. 271-285: Pennsylvania-German Influ- 
ence. By T. C. Zimmerman. 

Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Philadel- 
phia.— Vol. VI (1882), pp. 58-68: The German Almanac \ 
of Christopher Sauer. By A. H. Cassel. — This paper is of 
interest to Valley Germans, because many of the Sower al- 
manacs were used in Virginia, and some were sent as far 
south as South Carolina and Georgia. 

(2) Vol. VIII (1884). pp. 328-340: A Partial List of 
the Families Who Arrived at Philadelphia between 1682 and / 
1687.— Among the number were some Germans whose de- 
scendants may have reached the Valley of Virginia within 
the next centiuw. 

(3) Ditto, pp. 414-426: A History of the Upper Ger- 
mantown Burying-Ground. By Dr, P, D. Keyser. — Con- 



206 THE VAI^LEY GERMANS. 

tains names of many German families found later in 
Virginia. 

(4) Vol. IX (1885), pp. 82-88: Inscriptions in the Up- 
per Germantown Burying-Ground. By Dr. P. 1^. Keyser. 

(5) Vol. X (1886), pp. 241-250; 375-391 : German 
Emigration to the American Colonies, and Dislrihution of 
Emigrants. By A. D. ATellick, Jr. — A most readable antl 
thought-stimulating paper. 

(6) Vol. XII (1888), pp. 76-96: The Quarrel between 
Christopher Sower, the Germantown Printer, and Conrad 
Beissel, Founder and Vorsteher of the Cloister at Ephrata. 
By S. W. Pennypacker. 

(7) Vol. XIII (1889), pp. 184-206: Frederick Augustus 
Conrad Muhlenberg, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, in the First Congress, 1789. By Oswald Seiden- 
sticker. — Makes some interesting references to Gen. 
Muhlenberg and other members of the family. 

(8) Ditto, pp. 265-270: An Exhortation and Caution to 
Friends concerning Buying or Keeping of Negroes. By 

' George Keith. Edited by G. H. Moore. — "Given forth by 
our Monthly Meeting in Philadelphia, the 13th day of the 
8th Moneth, 1693, and recommended to all our Friends and 
Brethren, who are one with us in our Testimony for the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and to all others professing Christian- 
ity." — A Quaker protest, said to be the first printed docu- 
ment of the kind in America. The reasons for protesting 
against slavery are summed up under five heads — religious, 
ethical, and legal. 

(9) Vol. XIV (1890), pp. 297-312; 387-402: The Reg- 
ister of the Ephrata Community. By J. F. Sachse. — Val- 
uable sources for German names and facts historical and 
biograpliical : period covered, c. 1728 to c. 1813. 

(10) Ditto, pp. 403-413: Memoir of Israel Daniel Rnpp, 
the Historian. Bv Oswald Seidensticker. — Rupp was the 



APPENDIX. 267 

compiler and editor of the "Thirty Thousand Names," and 
other vahiable works. 

(11) Vol. XXI (1897), pp. 488-492: A Letter of Gen. 
Daniel Morgan and Two from Gen. Peter Muhlenberg to 
Col. Taverner Beale of Virginia. Contributed by G. W. 
Schmucker. — Chiefly in regard to military conditions and 
proceedings, with personal and family touches. 

(12) Vol. XXII (1898), pp. 452-457: The Pennsyl- 
vania-Dutchman, and Wherein He Has Excelled. By S. 
W. Pennypacker. 

(13) Vol. XXIII (1899), pp. 157-183: A Defence of 
the Plessians. By. J. G. Rosengarten. — A reliable article 
that throws much new light on an old question. 

RockingJiaiii Register, Harrisonburg, Va. — Plistory of Rock- 
ingham County. By G. F. Compton. — Of the early periods, 
chiefly. The series of articles was begun on February 5, 
1885; the 27th installment appeared on August 27, follo\7- 
ing; and was "to be continued"; but the publication does 
not seem to have been resumed. The sudden ending of the 
series is a matter for regret, since these papers probably 
make the nearest approach, thus far, to a complete history 
of Rockingham. 

(2) June 14 and July 26, 1895: Historical Sketches of 
the Valley Mennonites. By L. J. Pleatwole.— Authoritative 
papers of interest. 

(3) January 2, 1903: Pleroes of the Revolution from 
' Rockingham. By Chas. E. Kemper.— A list of the Revolu- 
tionary pensioners living in Rockingham County in 1835. 

Shenandoah Valley, New Market, Va.— July 28, 1904; pp. 
2, 3 : Report of the Meeting of the United Lutheran Synod 
at New Market, July 27—, 1904.— Contains much valuable 
historical matter concerning the Lutheran Church in Vir- 
ginia and elsewhere. 



208 THE VAlvLEY GERMANS. 

(2) Ditto, Supplement, giving- a historical account of St. 
Matthew Lutheran Church, by Rev. Dr. J. A. Snyder, and 
of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, by Rev. E. L. Wessinger. 
Both these churches are at New Market. 

(3) August 4, 1904: Report of the Meeting of the 
United [Lutheran] Synod at New Market, Concluded. — 
More historical facts. 

(4) November 17, 1904: A Sad Fortieth Anniversary. 
Extracts from the diary of George M. Neese, of entries 
made in October, 1864, giving historical and personal facts, 
in connection with Sheridan's burning, relating to Gen. 
Muhlenberg, Capt. Ramsay Koontz, and other Valley Ger- 
mans. 

(5) December 1, 1904: Outline of the Genealogy of the 
First Four Generations of the Branner Family in Virginia. 
By J. C. Branner. 

(6) September 27, 1906: Roster of Confederate Veter- 
ans, who attended the Reunion, near New Market, Va., 
Sept. 7, 1906, of the Neff-Rice Camp, U. C. V. 

(7) January 10, 1907: Revised Roster of Capt M. M 
Sibert's Military Company, 1859. 

(8) January 24, 1907; pp. 1, 2: Address before Neff- 
Rice C&mp, U. C. v., New Market, Va., January 19, 1907, 
by Gen. John E. Roller. — Makes frequent allusions to the 
Valley of Virginia Germans. 

Shcphcrdstown Register, Shepherdstown, W. Va. — November 
15, 1906: Sketch of the Lutheran Church at Mecklenburg 
(Shepherdstown), by John Byers; reprinted from the Balti- 
viore Anicrican. 

Strashurg Nezvs, Strasburg, Va. — August 21, 1903: Report 
of the Centennial Celebration, August 13, 14, 1903, at St. 
Paul's Lutheran Church. — Contains long historical ad- 
dresses by D. M. Gilbert, H. E. Jacobs, and C. J. Smith. 



APPENDIX. • 269 

Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Richmond. — 
Vol. ir (1893). No. 4. pp. 399-404: A Register of the Per- 
sons who have heen either Killed, Wounded or taken Prison- 
ers by the Enemy, in Aug-usta County, as also such as have 
Made their Escape, 1754-1758. — A number of German 
names are found in the list. 

(2) Vol. IX (1902), No. 4, pp. 337-352; Vol. X 
(1903), No. 1. pp. 33-48; No. 2, pp. 113-130: The Ger- 
mans of the Valley [of Virginia]. By J. W. Wayland. — A 
rather comprehensive account of the German people of 
Northern Virginia, prepared chiefly from secondary sources. 

(3) Vol. X (1902-3), No. 1, pp. 84-86: Adam Mueller 
(Miller), First White Settler in the Valley of Virginia. By 
C. E. Kemper. 

(4) Vol. XI (1903-4), No. 2, pp. 113-131; No. 3, pp. 
225-242; No. 4, pp. 370-393; Vol. XII (1904-5), No. 1, 
pp. 55-82; No. 2, pp. 134-153; No. 3, pp. 271-284: Mora- 
vian Diaries of Travel Through Virginia. Edited by W. J. 
Plinke and C. E. Kemper. — Diaries, translated from the 
German, of Moravian missionaries who, from 1743 to 1753, 
went up and down the South Branch and Shenandoah Val- 
leys, and into Eastern Virginia. We have herein prolific 
and valuable sources of history. 

(5) Vol. XII (1904), No. 2, pp. 202, 203: Moravian 
Missionaries and the Scotch-Irish. By J. A. Waddell. — 
A defence of the Scotch-Irish. 

(6) Vol. XII (1904-5), No. 3, pp. 313-317: The Dunk- 
ers and the Sieben-Taeger. By J. W. Wayland. — An ex- 
position of certain errors and confusions, with references 
to authorities. 

(7) Vol. XII (1904-5), No. 4, pp. 337-352; Vol. XIII 
(1905-6), No. 1, pp. 1-16; No. 2, pp. 113-138; No. 3, pp. 
281-297; No. 4, pp. 351-374: The Early Westward Move- 
ment of Virginia, 1722-1734. As Shown by the Proceed- 



270 THE VALLEY GERMANS. 

ings of the Colonial Council. Edited and Annotated by 
C. E. Kemper, — These documents, with the Moravian 
Diaries, form the most valuable sources yet published for 
early Valley of Virginia history. 

(8) Vol. XIV (1906), No. 2, pp. 136-170: The Ger- 
mans in Madison County, Virginia. Documents Translated 
and Annotated by W. J. Hinke. — Should be included in 
this bibliography, because there was more or less communi- 
cation between the Madison Germans and those of the Val- 
ley, and some of the former moved into the Valley. 

Virginische Volkshcrichter, Und Neuiiiarketcr Wochcnschrift, 
New Market, Va. — The German newspaper published by 
Ambrose Henkel from 1807 to 1809. An almost complete 
file is preserved by the Henkel Publishing House. 

Dcr IVcstcn, Chicago. — June 12, 1892: Lord Fairfax in Vir- 
ginia. By Andreas Simon. — The same journal published 
a sketch of Daniel Sheffey, son of a German shoemaker of 
Maryland, who came to the Valley of Virginia and won 
great distinction as a lawyer and politician. 

West Virginia Historical Magazine, Charleston. — Vol. I, No. 
2 (April, 1901), pp. 31-38: The Ruffners— I— Peter. By 
W. H. Ruffner. — Peter was the first of the name in Vir- 
ginia. He settled in Page County in 1739. 

(2) Vol. I, No. 3 (July, 1901), pp. 33-41 : The Ruffners 
— U— Joseph. By W. H. Ruffner. — Joseph, the eldest son 
of Peter, was born in 1740, on the Hawkshill. At the age 
of 24 he married Ann Heistand, of the vicinity. All of his 
eight children, except one who died young, ultimately went 
to Kanawha County. 

(3) Vol. I, No. 4 (October, 1901), pp. 46-54: The 
Ruffners— HI— David : First Article. By. W. H. Ruffner. 
— David was the eldest son of Joseph. He was born in 
1767; in 1789 he married Ann Brumbach, a Mennonite, of 
near Harrisonburg. In 1796 he followed his father to 
Kanawha — the site of the present city of Charleston. 



APPENDIX. 



271 



(4) Vol. II, No. 1 (January, 1902), pp. 45-53: The 
Ruffnei-s— III— David : Second Article. By W. II. Ruff- 



ner. 



(5) Vol. II, No. 2 (April, 1902), pp. 60-74: The Ruff- 
ners— IV— Henry : First y\rticle. By W. H. Ruffner.— 
Henry, the oldest son of David, was born in Page County 
(then Shenandoah) in 1790, and was taken to Kanawha in 
1796. He was the first Presbyterian of the family. For/ 
nearly thirty years between 1820 and 1850 he was a pro- 
fessor and, later, president, at Washington College, Lexing- 
ton, Va. In 1847 he wrote his celebrated pamphlet against 
slavery. 

(6) Vol. II, No. 3 (July, 1902), pp. 36-44: The Ruff- 
ners— IV— Henry : Second Article. By W. H. Ruffner. • 

(7) Vol. I, No. 3 (July, 1901), pp. 28-33: The Oldest 
Town in West Virginia. By W. S. Laidley.— Between 
Shepherdstown and Romney, the author decides for Rom- 
ncy — upon rather flimsy grounds, 

(8) Vol II, No. 2 (April, 1902), pp. 5-18: The Van 
Meter Family in America. By Miss A. H. Van Meter; 
Addenda by W. S. Laidley.— In the same issue, pp. 19-30, 
is an article on Gabriel Jones, "The Lawyer," by R. T. Bar- 
ton, which contains much of interest in Valley history. 

(9) Ditto, pp. 31-35: Col. David Shepherd, First Lieu- 
tenant Commandant of Ohio County, Virginia. By G. ^L. 
Cranmer.— David was the son of Capt. Thomas SlifpheroT 
for whom Shepherdstown, W. Va., was named " 

(10) Ditto, pp. 38-53 : The Millers and their Kin. By 
Dr. J. L. Miller. — Gives an account oi" Jacob Miller, 
founder of Woodstock, Va., and others ol his race. 

(11) Vol. II, No. 3 (July, 1902), pp. 16-36: Braddock's 
IMarch Through West Virginia. By W. P. Craighill.— 
Gives much of interest concerning the lower "^^alley. 

(12) Vol. Ill, No. 2 (April, 1903), pp. 99-119: Jost 
Hite, Pioneer of tl;e Shenandoah Valley, 1732. By W. S. 



272 THS VALLEY GERMANS. 

Laidley. — An interesting and valuable article, but in erro'- 
in regarding Hite as the first settler in the Valley. 

(13) Ditto, pp. 119-127: Notes Relating to the Elting 
and Shepherd Families of Maryland and Virginia. By S. 
G. Smyth. 

(14) Ditto, pp. 127-144: Augusta Men in French and 
Indian War. By Dr. J. L. Miller. — An interesting list, 
containing some German names among a much larger num- 
ber of Scotch-Irish and English names. 

William and Mary College Quarterly, Williamsburg, Va. — 
Vol. IV (1895-6), pp. 62, 63: The Rev. John Casper 
Stoever, Sr. By Dr. K. G. Grinnan. — Mr. Stover was 
pastor of the Lutheran church in Madison County, Va., 
prior to l738. 

(2) Vol. IX (1900-1), pp. 132, 133: First Settler in the 
Vall^. By Lizzie B. Miller. — Contains a copy of the 
naturalization paper of Adam Miller of Germany, who set- 
tled on the Shenandoah River in 1726-7. 

(3) Vol. X (1901-2), pp. 120-123: Memoranda copied 
from the Note Book of Maj. Isaac Hite, of Belle Grove, 
Frederick Co., Va. — The notes are made up of a protracted 
record of births, deaths, and marriages of members of the 
Hite family. 

(4) Vol. XIII (1904-5), pp. 247-256; Vol. XIV 
--^' (1905-6), pp. 9-19; 186-193 : Record of the Peaked Moun- 
tain Church, Rockingham County, Virginia. Edited by 
W. J. Hmke and C. E. Kemper. — Translated from the 
German originals. Contains, among other things, an agree- 
ment between the T^eformed and Lutherans; list of church 
officers; record of baptisms; etc. A valuable document. 

Woodstock (now Sheuandoah') Herald, Woodstock, Va. — 
This i)aper was founded in 1817, by B. L. Bugan. It is 
edited at pres-nt by Capt. J. H. Grabill, who has files of 
the paper of 1K21 and several years following, containing 
facts of great interest. 



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